Life in His Majesty's Holy Ordos
by voltaire22
Summary: A delinquent blank gets dragged into the Inquisition, Malleus. Rated T.
1. Prologue

Warhammer 40,000 belongs to the Games Workshop.

I think its books are copyrighted to the Black Library. Aha! I just checked. It is (an actual company).

Rated T for a few things.

I hope you enjoy.

* * *

><p>Life was good for Agnus Crowfeather.<p>

He was enjoying the fruits of his labor at a very exclusive club, and the night was young.

Granted, it would be a lot better if his father didn't find out that he sold more of the drugs than was necessary. He needed the extra money for the space yacht he was planning to buy. The new credit flow, a hundred and seventy three new addicts in all, would go a long way towards that goal.

Agnus didn't get why his father was so worried about selling within the quota. Drugs were one of the tried and true means of keeping the populace happy and firmly under control. The merchant cartel of Crowfeather had the monopoly on this paradise world. The Arbites only sent mild complaints whenever too many people started exhibiting withdrawal symptoms.

Drugs were just one of the many things the Crowfeather cartel specialized in, but it was one of the most profitable.

Agnus, at the age of eighteen, was put in charge of a certain department. Withdrawal symtpoms were bad for business. Bad for business was bad for his father. Bad for his father was bad for him. Agnus, despite many character flaws, did his best to make sure that 'bad for him' didn't happen if he could help it.

"Well, I'm turning in for the night." Triela said, yawning. Agnus's second eldest sister was thirty-five years old, one of the discrepancies that occur in families with juvenat treatment. She was in charge of 'imports/exports', shipping, transportation, finance, etc. "Remember, arrange that ganger's death tomorrow. He's getting to be a liability."

That was the solution to quite a few business problems. Agnus thought a master's degree in business and administration was really just given to anyone with the money to attend grad school. Not that he'd actually say that in front of Triela, of course, not if he wanted to find out on some random day that his house's electricity wasn't paid for.

"No business in front of the little ones." Clarisse hissed. Agnus's eldest sister and heiress of the cartel was forty-three years old. Clarisse was responsible for just about everything except the really big or the really trivial stuff. When Agnus asked her how she handled it all, she told him it was an implant called 'multi-tasking'. Apparently, it was only available for women.

The little ones she was referring to were sound asleep, or so Agnus thought. Henrietta was eight and Lauren was five; 1:09 a.m. was some ways past their bedtime. Family reunions tended to get messy, time-wise, when they all lived on different continents or had business on different planets.

"It's your turn." Agnus told Manfred, his elder brother who was thirty-nine years old. He was in charge of 'security' which in reality meant all military affairs. Manfred was unique in that he was the only one of Agnus's five siblings who was married. He didn't have children, yet, not that anyone would want children with his harridan of a wife.

Agnus offered to kill her when her family was no longer so useful. Manfred told him he'd think about it.

"Our people are waiting." Manfred nodded, and lifted the two little ones.

"Staying, Agnus?" Clarisse said.

"People in my line of work usually work after hours, Clarisse." Agnus said. "Good night, everyone."

"Hmph. Stay out of trouble."

That would make sense, if his business wasn't trouble. Agnus sent his siblings off and took a seat at a relatively quiet corner of the nightclub.

Yet another joygirl brought him a drink. His bodyguard, and butler, and father-figure, and advisor, and accomplice, and teacher, and a few other things, allowed her passage.

Agnus raised his eyebrow. She was no ordinary joygirl. A ten at the least, and perhaps the most stunning beauty he had ever seen. Likely artificial but it seemed mostly natural. Her red hair reached her waist. It was a shame she didn't bring him a drink, or he would have fallen in love.

Granted, he would've preferred Sephilia, but his childhood friend was long gone into the depths of Segmentum Obscurus. Objectively, this woman was the more beautiful, but there was just something about Sephilia that he found adorable inside her many-layered barriers of steely cold demeanor.

It was too bad she hated living outside her beloved ship. She was now a full-fledged captain, courtesy of her father's flagrant nepotism. Well, Sephilia was considered a genius in void combat and deep-space exploration. Agnus thought it might be his bitterness talking. It wasn't all nepotism. Agnus generally had a healthy grasp of reality.

Anyhow, she was now a Rogue Trader, following in her father's footsteps. The tons of credits used to bribe the right authorities helped, too, courtesy of Agnus's own father.

Agnus and Sephilia had a furious argument over the matter. In the end, she chose space, and he chose comfort.

"What are you thinking about?" The woman said, all six feet of impossibly long legs and well-proportioned body. Her richly blue eyes caught Agnus's attention.

One does not survive in the underworld for long without being a decent judge of human beings, and the eyes are one of the best initial indicators of character. This woman was dangerous and experienced. However, he did not sense any intent of harm in her.

Perhaps he'd get lucky that night.

The woman invited herself to a seat right next to him. That was odd. He hadn't yet offered to pay her, he doubted she was an addict, she had a certain air of authority about her but didn't seem to be law-enforcement, and he hadn't worked his charms on her yet. Agnus was a confident man, but he also had a realistic assessment of his charms; she should be out of his league, if money and drugs were off the table.

That should have made Agnus wary, but then he was a healthy young man of reproductive age.

"About how beautiful you are, of course." Agnus said, a standard-enough reply that he didn't need to think about it. This was a paradise world, after all, and if there's any one thing in excess on paradise worlds it is sex. His butler, Fred for short, nodded at him. She seemed unarmed. "And, frankly, how out of my league you are."

The woman laughed. "Not very confident, are you? Tell me, how am I out of your league?"

Agnus raised an eyebrow. "I have confidence in spades, ma'am. I merely have an adequate understanding of my chances. Besides, have you looked in the mirror lately? Or heard your own voice? I bet you're a terrible narcissist."

The woman laughed even more, and held out a hand. "Anna Smirnov."

Agnus took it, and kissed it lightly. It wouldn't do to test her limits so early. "Agnus Crowfeather, my fair lady."

"Of that merchant cartel?" Anna asked.

"Er... yes, and I apologize if this sounds offensive, but I'm not the heir. I have a brother and two sisters to go before I'm in line. Granted, I'm still filthy rich but-"

"I didn't know who you were." The woman recoiled, her face flaring in indignation, and started to rise.

Agnus caught her hand. "As I was saying, I meant no offense. I'm terribly sorry. It was a long day and I didn't feel like entertaining someone after my family wealth! Please, sit." Agnus turned to a waiter passing by. "Terran scotch, the most expensive bottle you have!"

To Agnus's relief, Anna stopped, and sat down again. "That bottle's going to be expensive, Crowfeather money or not."

"Not so expensive if it'll give me even the slightest chance at you, Ms. Smirnov. So, what brings you to this fair planet? I doubt you're a local, or I'd know you."

"I'm an opera singer. I'm performing for the governor in a week."

Agnus sputtered. To perform for the governor was no easy prospect for all but the best of performers. "Really? I regret being so damnably uncultured, then. Governor Liu is a difficult man to please. Please excuse my ignorance. Now you seem seriously out of my league."

Agnus's mind spun again. His prospects seemed slim at best. But he also wondered why this woman was without an escort. A bodyguard at least.

He was irrevocably distracted by Anne's legs. Agnus knew they'd be delicious.

A throaty laugh destroyed his concerns. "Such high esteem for me. I think it'd be discourteous of me to let such a fan be disappointed."

"Please, feel free to do all the fan service you wish." Agnus sincerely hoped he wasn't drooling. The Terran whiskey arrived, and he couldn't care less about it except getting as much of it in Anne as possible. Hopefully, the lowered inhibitions would be enough to tip the scales.

"My place? I have a suite at the W."

Agnus offered her his right arm, and to his relief she took it. He nodded at Fred, dismissing him for the day.

The W was a favored haunt for young lovers, and Agnus knew the way quite well.

Agnus entered Anne's suite, one worthy of a famous opera singer.

"Let me clean up a bit, okay?" Anne said. Agnus noted that she sounded shy now that he was alone with him. He grinned, and nodded.

As soon as she entered the bathroom, Agnus rifled through the contents of her bags. He didn't find anything incriminating against her. Agnus was relieved that she seemed to be who she claimed to be.

And very happy when she stepped out of the bathroom in nothing but a white corset and matching garter belt with stockings.

* * *

><p>"- wake up."<p>

Agnus groaned as someone shook him awake.

"Wake up before I shoot your lazy arse." A preternatural growl, that of a predator. Agnus's internal alarms blared like never before, and he got up.

"... Huh?"

Agnus rubbed his eyes. Something was very wrong.

Anne, the woman he was fairly sure he slept with, stood in a skintight black bodyglove. She had a sword and two ornate pistols.

The figure next to her stood nearly three, perhaps more, feet taller than Anne. The man was a giant, but he was not an ogryn. Agnus held his breath as he recognized the figure.

An astartes, one of the Emperor's Angels of Death, not three steps away from his drug-dealing and thieving criminal self. He gulped.

"Hello Agnus Crowfeather." Anne smiled, and he could tell that she was enjoying his surprise. "Sleep well?"

"Uh... hello, Anne. Erm... why is one of the Emperor's astartes in your room? Oh, and I am honored to be in your presence, lord astartes."

"I am no lord. There is only one lord and it is the Emperor." The space marine said in monotone. It sounded suspiciously well-rehearsed, or well-practiced.

"Ah, I must apologize. You see, my name is not Anne. It is Merigo Fiatma, and I am an inquisitor of the Ordo Malleus." Merigo held out the proof, an inquisitorial rosette.

Agnus couldn't decide whether it'd be better to kill himself right away or to try to talk his way out of it. The rosette could be a fake of course, if one was willing to risk the rather stiff penalties that came along with impersonating an agent of the Inquisition: said rather stiff penalties being a euphemism for horrendous torture and reconfiguration into a servitor, if one is lucky of course. However, the space marine seemed very real to Agnus.

"I'm sorry! I swear I'll never uh... deal drugs again, steal, change Administratum records, er... oh, deal in whorehouses, run casinos without permission, hack logic engines, or kill again in my life! Please don't kill me!" Agnus prostrated himself in front of the Inquisitor.

The Inquisitor laughed in the same way she had seduced Agnus last night. "You think an Inquisitor gives a damn about your petty crimes? Ha ha ha! I think you might be one of the quickest to confess to your crimes in my decades of service to the Emperor! No, no, no, I'm interested in your abilities! You do know you're a blank, don't you?"

Agnus didn't get up, just in case he could buy the Inquisitor's mercy for a few more minutes. "Yes, inquisitor. My father purchased the inhibitors from the Mechanicus when I was born."

"You can turn it on and off at your will, no? That's how it is with most of the more expensive implants."

"Yes." Agnus was wondering why the Inquisitor had such an interest in him. Surely there were other blanks?

"Good." The inquisitor gave what Agnus considered to be the grin of a crazy person. "I have need of you, then."

"Er... excuse me?"

"By my authority, given to me by his Divine Majesty, the Emperor, you are now one of my retainers. Do you accept?"

Agnus thought that refusing would have terribly negative consequences for his continued well-being. The glare of the space marine reinforced that notion. "Gladly! Uh... can I tell my family about this? That I'm an Inquisitor's retainer, I mean."

"Later, later," the inquisitor waved impatiently. "I take it you know the consequences of, ah... desertion from service?"

"Uh... horrific and torturous death with a side of human experimentation?"

The inquisitor beamed. "That's the spirit! Now, to fill you in on the situation, I'm investigating a cult here, a cult of Slaanesh. You're familiar with the basics of Chaos, no?"

"My, um... acquaintances might have let slip a few things. Not that I'm interested in it or anything, mind you! Just business!"

"They're performing an ascension ritual tonight, and I need something to disrupt their warp magiks!"

"I'm sure the formidable battle-brother here would more than suffice, don't you think?" Agnus was clutching at straws, he knew, but he was desperate.

"Regrettably, this is the inquisitor's vacation and none of my other squad members are here. And it is Justiciar to you." The voice made Agnus think he was about to die.

"Just one more question, inquisitor. I'm horribly averse to anything dangerous. What-"

"You'll do as I tell you, or you'll die." The inquisitor shrugged. "The question is: who do you fear more, Chaos or the Inquisition?"

Chaos was a very distant thing to Agnus right then, and the Inquisition was awfully close.

"Yes, inquisitor."

* * *

><p>He wondered how he would ever get out of this one.<p>

Agnus groaned as he forced his way through sewage, shit, sewage, shit, sewage, and more shit with a side of monstrously large rats.

"This is nothing compared to some of the other things you'll see in your career, Agnus." Merigo chuckled as she pushed through.

Justiciar Drow was in the vanguard, leading the group. It could hardly be called a group, for there were three people, but the inquisitor insisted it was a group.

Some choice threats had ensured that Agnus never question the inquisitor.

"We could've walked in the front door, inquisitor."

"With the good Justiciar? I think not!"

"No, no, without him! If this whole thing hinges on killing just one psyker, I don't see why we can't do it from miles away with a sniper rifle! Surely the Justiciar here is a much better shot than I am, and I'm a fair marksman myself?"

The deep rumble of the space marine answered. "Of course I'm a much better shot than you are. It's just that with Chaos, you can't afford to take chances. The only way to confirm a kill is up close or an Exterminatus."

"But your scores were remarkable! Surprising, really. I wouldn't have thought a paradise world merchant cartel heir brat would be capable of anything like it!" Merigo said.

Agnus barely stopped himself from answering in the appropriately dry and sarcastic manner. "Good genes, I suppose. I believe one of my great-great granduncles was a space marine. Also helps that my father insists on his children being useful. My criminal ways are all his fault, by the way! I'm the product of my environment! Please don't execute me after this! And oh Emperor not the Penal Legions or life as a servitor either!"

"Huh? Why ever would I dispose of such a promising tool in so wasteful a manner?" Merigo muttered. Agnus was glad that some things held true for everyone, even the Inquisition. His father once said: 'Always make yourself useful. It makes your superiors that much more reluctant to get rid of you.'

Of course, he couldn't have predicted this particular predicament, but it would have taken the Emperor to do that.

"Can't we just call the PDF? Or the Arbites?"

"And alert the cult in the process? What idiocy. I wish petty criminals got smarter these days. It's disappointing."

Agnus shrugged. It was true that the PDF was a joke, but even his father had difficulty suborning the Arbites. He supposed institutional paranoia ran deep in the Inquisition.

The Justiciar broke into a sprint.

"Sentries." Merigo hissed, drawing both of her ornate pistols.

Agnus took her word for it, and put on his thermal vision goggles.

The Guard's standard pattern long-las rifle was not what he was used to, but he had practice with it. One does not stay as a freeloader in the Crowfeather family.

He crouched on one knee, stabilized the barrel, and drew a deep breath. He peered through his scope.

The Justiciar's Nemesis force-halberd carved through two cultists in one blow. The power-armored inquisitor was engaged in a rather one-sided firefight with three cultists armed with lasguns.

Agnus took another deep breath, and prioritized. This wasn't quite what he was used to but sniping was sniping. The one with the highest rank or firepower had to go first. That usually meant the one with the most ornate headdress and while he hesitated to call what this particular cultist was wearing a headdress, he had to go first.

He, she, it, whatever that thing was.

Freely moving targets are harder to hit, but the cultist hadn't seen him yet and charged the inquisitor with a chainsword.

Agnus breathed, stopped all motion but that of his finger, and fired. He was rewarded with a satisfying destruction of the cultist's skull. He proceeded to do the same with the other cultists, and killed two before the Justiciar and the inquisitor slaughtered the rest of them.

"Decent, could be better." Merigo said.

"In my line of work, that's considered excellent." Agnus muttered.

"But you're in my line of work now. Well? Forward."

"Yes ma'am."

"Where're your friends?" Merigo asked.

"Bringing some heavy equipment. You really will pardon them afterwards, right?"

"As long as they perform to my satisfaction, I don't see why not." Merigo shrugged. "I doubt many will survive, anyways."

* * *

><p>A full complement of a hundred and thirty-something gangers, mercenaries, and servants assembled within the hour.<p>

Agnus had the unappreciated task of reassuring his various associates. They were rather displeased, not that Agnus blamed them, by the presence of the inquisitor and her pet space marine.

Fortunately, the inquisitor announced that she didn't give a damn about their petty crimes and would even grant pardons for any crime less than heresy, consorting with aliens or Chaos, and outright rebellion.

Agnus wasn't surprised everyone stayed. Murder was a nuisance to have on one's records. The space marine's presence helped. Besides, the inquisitor didn't need to say that she'd remember the ones who refused to help.

When twenty of the Crowfeather Cartel's crack troops and his butler arrived, Agnus breathed a sigh of relief. The security force's elite troops were mostly ex-stormtroopers.

If need be, Agnus was sure that he could kill both the inquisitor and the astartes, alert his family, and escape before Chaos ruled Cinna.

"Agnus, what did you get yourself into this time?" snapped the hostess of the Lucky Gold Star. The joygirls, he saw, were armed to the teeth. Only the Emperor knew where one of them had picked up a rocket launcher.

"I swear I'll make up for it later." Agnus began to grovel shamelessly. "20% extra cargo space for the next shipment from Mars."

"Make it fifty."

"Twenty five, please. I'm stretched pretty thin as it is and Rosalyn won't appreciate my disrupting her schedule."

"… Fine. Thirty, and I get to play with Manfred for a day."

"Pleasure doing business with you." Agnus grinned. Manfred would complain, but he'd be in good hands. Agnus was slightly more concerned about explaining this to Manfred's wife, but then, he could always shoot her.

"Pleasure is my business."

A power-armored hand grabbed Agnus's shoulder and steered him towards the door.

"An acquaintance of yours?" Merigo smiled.

"A business associate, some-times friend with benefits, no doubt you know the drill, inquisitor." Agnus stopped, having noticed that what he had just said could be misconstrued and twisted to whatever horrific demise the inquisitor had planned for him. "Not that I'm implying anything about your virtue, of course. We're ready."

"Nearly one hundred and seventy. Impressive. I hope a lot of them die or I'd spend hours writing pardons."

Agnus winced. "Please try to ensure my household troops live. My father'd have my hide if they die."

"The rest?"

"I'll make sure their leaders live."

"All right." Merigo turned to face the crowd. "Soldiers of the Imperium, file in! Noise discipline!"

The Justiciar and the inquisitor ushered the troops in. The hodge-podge army piled up in the abandoned amphitheater.

It was a huge edifice, one of the previous governor's displays of extravagance worn down by inadequate maintenance and dwindling use.

"What do we have, Drow?" Merigo said.

The space marine peeked his head out for a second.

"Targeting auspexes read seven hundred and eighty two hostiles, inquisitor."

"_Dumb as shit space marines._" Agnus growled inwards. "_A smart leader would have said something like four hundred._"

"More for us, then." Merigo grinned, and jumped out from cover, guns blazing.

If this was how most inquisitors operated, Agnus feared for the future of the Imperium.

"Attack!" Agnus shouted.

It didn't take long for the squad automatic weapons to come into play. The Imperials had higher ground and better weapons.

Agnus was curious as to how one of his favorite joygirls got hold of an autocannon. He made a mental note to tip better next time.

The cultists struck back with their own weapons, though rather light and mediocre compared to the heavy artillery the Imperials brought.

Dozens of daemonettes of Slaanesh emerged from a tear in the warp, no doubt summoned by the psyker.

Agnus turned off his inhibitors. The daemonettes were stunned by this development and gave him a wide berth. This gave the SAWs time to adjust their aim.

Not even daemonettes walk away from autocannons, heavy bolters, lascannons, and heavy stubbers unscathed. Agnus concentrated again on picking off cultist leaders.

"Clear a path for the astartes!" He shouted.

The psyker was evidently a powerful one. A flurry of warp-fire decimated the western flank, unprotected by Agnus's sphere of null-influence. He, Agnus couldn't quite tell the gender of the psyker, shrugged off a lascannon round with what seemed to be a shield made of the very stuff of the warp.

"Straight silver!" The inquisitor shouted, and drew her sword.

"Stick close to me if you want to live!" Agnus yelled over the din.

The Imperial formation advanced, sticking as close to Agnus as possible.

A barrage of las-bolts and stubber rounds flew at Agnus. He panicked as he realized the cultists found the source of the void.

Household troops with shields stepped in front of Agnus. There really was no need. He had his mother's gift, a rosarius, and it had never failed to save his skin before.

"Agnus, to the front!" The inquisitor's voice cracked over the com.

Agnus sighed as he obeyed.

Warp-fire slaughtered the Imperials at the back, no longer under the protection of Agnus's powers. He estimated that about half of the troops still lived.

Merigo and Drow were fighting their way through the deformed bodyguards of the psyker. Barely seventy of the cultists still lived.

Agnus shot one who was about to stab Merigo, dropping him. He hissed as a las-bolt that would've killed himw as stopped by the rosarius. The household troops in front of him shrugged in apology.

The psyker screamed as Agnus got in range. The Justiciar faltered, too, but wasn't as severely affected.

Merigo put down the psyker's last bodyguard and grinned as she put a pistol to the psyker's head.

A bolt exploded the psyker's skull, reducing the damned creature's brains into a heap of blood and unidentifiable matter.

Another minute saw the death of all remaining cultists.

"Victory!" Merigo shouted, raising her sword high.

The Imperials joined in on the chorus. Agnus was a little busier assessing the damage. He only had to pay fifty-three people in assorted favors and credits.

"So… interested in life in service to the Emperor?" Merigo said.

* * *

><p>Twelve hours had passed since the battle.<p>

The inquisitor arranged for the complete destruction of the amphitheater and signed the pardons of all imperial survivors.

Agnus was rewarded in a more intimate and personal manner. He knew he should've put as much distance between himself and the inquisitor as possible, but his libido had taken over his body. Agnus's brains fought, to no avail, to regain control of his bodily functions.

"It's really unfair to ask when 'no' might mean my immediate castration for, ah… violation of an inquisitor, inquisitor."

"I promise I'll spare you of any punishment, regardless of your answer." Merigo chuckled.

"Then, er… no?"

"… You hate the Imperium, don't you?"

"Of course not!" Agnus said emphatically. Heresy was punishable by death.

"Beneath your façade of ignorance and petty criminal entrepreneurship, I know you're quite well-read, Agnus Crowfeather. I searched your compound."

"Impossible!" Agnus scoffed. The building was guarded by dozens of household troops, a battalion of PDF forces, and state of the art biometric security-

"Even for a Callidus assassin?" Another Merigo entered the room.

The real Merigo sighed. "Agnus, meet Alice Stormwatch. Alice, you may return to the ship."

"Yes, my lady." The assassin smirked and closed the door behind her.

Agnus was under the impression that the inquisitor had him by the tail. Apparently, he thought wrong. The bitch had him by the balls, and she knew it.

"Yes… I hate what this Imperium's become. We deviated too much from the Emperor's vision of the Imperium."

"Oh? And what of the alternatives? After seeing what you saw today, you still say humanity is better off without the Imperium?"

"Better death than the sort of life most humans live." Agnus spat as he looked around him, searching for a weapon. He was under no illusion of overpowering the inquisitor in unarmed combat.

"So you would've preferred death for your family, your little friends, and your business associates?" Merigo sneered.

"Of course not! But that has nothing to-"

Merigo's sword cut into the bed right next to Agnus's heart. "Wrong! It has everything to do with this! You say most humans live lives not worth living but it is through their labors and sacrifices that Imperial armies are fed, equipped, and trained! It is by the sacrifice of inquisitors, space marines, and guardsmen that parasites like you live!"

"That doesn't make what is clearly a wrong right, inquisitor!" Agnus snarled back. He had finally recovered his ring, and it was a digital weapon with two rounds in it. One for the inquisitor and one for himself.

"Spare me the lectures on Kantian justice. We are right because humanity as a whole benefits from our decisions. Very few have the luxury of following one set of morals."

"That's just utilitarianism, inquisitor. It seems you're not as well-read on the subject as you should be."

"No! Practicality! Had you not succeeded in gathering your forces yesterday, what would have happened to your precious little sisters? Henrietta and Lauren unless I'm mistaken. If she were here, what of Sephilia?"

"You will leave them out of this, inquisitor, or I'll-"

"Kill me with that puny digital weapon? You are welcome to try, but even if you succeed, wouldn't that be a death sentence for you and everyone you know?"Merigo scoffed.

"I think it'd be a mistake to take me, inquisitor. You know I don't believe in your cause. You could threaten me with my family, true, but you'd always have to watch your back."

"I don't intend to threaten you or to kill you, idiot. I intend to recruit you."

"Why me? There are other blanks, you know, and a lot more willing to put themselves in mortal danger than I am!"

"Other blanks are rarely as well-connected and educated as you are. I represent a certain group in the Inquisition; we call ourselves pragmatists." Merigo took a deep breath, shuddering in disgust at the subject. "We couldn't care less what the puritans and the radicals do. Now, over the past three thousand years, the Imperium has been waning. My faction seeks to stop that, and I think you'll be a good inquisitor of our school of thought."

Agnus knew the Imperium was waning for the past two or three thousand years; anyone with an elementary education in history, the uncensored version, could see that. An Ork Waaagh had even reached Armageddon, so close to the Sol system and uncomfortably close to Cinna now that he thought about it.

"How?"

"Ah. Well, compared to the puritans and the radicals we number few. So we concentrate on strengthening the core sectors."

"Strengthen? Core?"

Merigo beamed. "Core as in close to the Sol system. Segmentum Solar for one. Parts of Segmentum Pacificus, Obscurus, and Tempestus, too. A tiny part of Segmentum Ultima, but it's too big anyways. As inquisitors of our faction visit each world, we quietly replace the planet's ruling class, introduce laws to strengthen industry-"

"So, mostly hive worlds, paradise worlds, and civilised worlds in general?" Agnus was now a little interested. It was a good idea, as far as general imperial policy went.

"Precisely, and as our core sectors become stronger, they can support the outer rims of the Imperium with war materials and men."

"Hmph. It's a good idea, I grant you, but I still refuse."

"Why? I'm giving you a chance to make a difference!" Merigo hissed.

"And I'm still telling you that my wages would include having my way with all Imperial Saints, becoming Fabricator-General of Mars, making Jupiter my personal fiefdom, and having some alone time with the Emperor, and not in the prayer sort of way!"

Merigo took a deep breath. "Let's examine the facts. If you hadn't assisted me today, what would've happened?"

"Your death, and no guarantee of my death." Agnus countered.

"Fool. If the ascension ceremony had succeeded, you would've had a Daemon Prince of Slaanesh not three hundred miles from your family's estates. You might not know what that means but I do. It would've meant the death of everyone on this planet and worse. Consider something else. If a Daemon Prince took over a neighboring sub-sector, what would happen to this sub-sector?"

"The Imperium would scramble forth to meet the threat eventually." Agnus said, though he had no confidence in his words. The key word was eventually. There were many interpretations of eventually.

Merigo saw through that, she hadn't been in the Inquisition for seven decades without good reason.

"Would you risk your loved ones on those chances?"

"… No."

"So, consider this: you're a blank, a kind a thousand times rarer than a psyker. What would happen to the Imperium if it didn't make use of blanks, almost as rare and about half as valuable as a space marine? Besides, isn't noblesse oblige one of the tenets of Kantian justice?"

"The Imperium would die, but I'm not a Kantian. The Imperium's too rotten for a true Kantian to exist."

"Excuses. Then you're just going to go back to organizing your family's petty criminal activities for the rest of your life? What meaning is there to such a life? Might as well kill yourself and get it over with."

That struck a chord in Agnus's mind.

Though it was his job, managing a criminal enterprise created victims. Agnus knew that as long as humanity survived, there would be criminals, but there really was no point except money. Agnus knew the value of money quite well, but in the end it was meaningless.

In the service of the Inquisition, however, a criminal network would be an invaluable source of information on rebels, cultists, heretics, mutants, and aliens, all of whom were anathema to the Administratum.

"I accept, with two conditions."

* * *

><p>The dining hall of the Crowfeather estate on Cinna was designed to seat some three hundred people.<p>

Seven people occupied the main table.

"Vetoed!" Agnus's mother said.

"No." Manfred said.

"Hells, no!" Clarisse said.

"Denied." Triela said.

That was understandable. Agnus wasn't sure whether he wanted to go either.

All eyes now rested on the head of the Crowfeather cartel.

To give a brief explanation of how democracy works in the Crowfeather cartel, Agnus's mother had five hundred votes. Agnus and his siblings had one vote each.

Agnus's father, head of the Crowfeather cartel, had three hundred thousand and one votes.

"...I don't see why not."

"Father! Agnus has certain skills that make him a valuable part of our more... illegitimate business ventures. It'd be a mistake to throw him away!" Triela said.

Agnus was sure Triela would oppose his entering the services of an inquisitor. Her job was intertwined most with his job. Agnus could be replaced, of course, but there was just something about working with family rather than working with a relative stranger in a job that could get one jailed.

"True... it'd be annoying to have to replace him after going through so much trouble to make him head that branch of our enterprises. However, I think it is high time we started expanding beyond Segmentum Solar. If, as the inquisitor promised, our cartel retains exclusive access to the networks Agnus sets up, this could prove an invaluable opportunity to expand."

"He might die!" Agnus's mother said. "What do you think is the life expectancy of an inquisitorial agent?"

Agnus's father nodded. "A good point and my primary concern. I didn't spend all that money on him for nothing, after all. As an asset, I need him to generate revenue, and to generate revenue, he needs to live. To that end, though, that inquisitor Merigo survived for seven decades in service to the Inquisition speaks volumes about her methods. I don't think a survivor such as herself would get Agnus killed easily. Besides, Agnus has always shown an uncanny instinct in extricating himself from unhealthy situations."

Agnus sighed. He was doomed.

"Furthermore, he and the inquisitor made an excellent case for their cause." Agnus's father allowed himself a rare grin. "If he's made inquisitor in twenty years, our enemies will be considerably more reluctant to attack us. On the other hand, we'll have a formidable strategic weapon."

"Er... I don't think that's quite how you're supposed to see this, father." Agnus said.

"Abuse of inquisitorial authority carries severe punishments." Merigo added.

"Regardless, that is the consideration I must bear in mind in exchange for the life of one of my lieutenants. I also believe the conditions Agnus set forth have merit. No matter how dangerous daemons are, Agnus is a blank. His talents, I suspect, will be used in well-entrenched Imperial sectors: so there's little chance for all-out war." Agnus's father now looked at Agnus. "This debate has concluded. Pack up, inquisitor-to-be."

* * *

><p>Agnus was successful in placating Henrietta and Lauren after hours of begging, promises, and some more begging.<p>

It hurt to think that he wouldn't be able to see them grow up, but the inquisitor was right.

For them to grow up, the Imperium had to stay strong. The strength of the Imperium depended on the blood, sweat, and tears of her most able citizens.

"Send-off gifts?" Agnus chuckled as Triela and Manfred struggled with some crates. "Writing me off so easily?"

Agnus's mother smacked him on the head. "Fool. I told you a few hours ago and I'll tell you again; the Inquisition is serious business. Pay attention to the inquisitor's advice, keep your head low and your eyes sharp, and run from enemies you can't defeat."

"Mother, running from enemies I can't defeat is my standard policy!" Agnus said, rubbing his head.

"Regardless, even my rosarius won't be able to guarantee your survival beyond a set amount of damage. To that end, this is the newest power-armor for regular human beings." Agnus's mother pointed at a black power-armor. "Mechanicus-approved and sanctified. When you know you're getting into a firefight, do your mother a favor and wear it."

"Yes, mother." Agnus rolled his eyes. Power-armor was infamously uncomfortable, not to mention conspicuous. It was akin to painting a bulls-eye on yourself, yelling 'I'm an important target! Kill me!'

That's alright for a space marine, but not as much for a mortal operator.

"Don't roll your eyes. It's artificer-crafted!"

"Yes, mother."

"He'll be fine, mother. He's Agnus Crowfeather." Manfred said, nudging her out of the way. "This is my gift to you."

Agnus raised an eyebrow. "A chain-gladius and a reinforced riot-shield? I'm not a space marine, brother."

"Yes, I know you'll never be much of a swordsman. But you've got to learn enough to defend yourself when it comes to the melee. Of course, you'll have to be power-armored to use these effectively... or work out a lot?"

"Huh... I didn't consider that, Manfred. Thanks."

"That's why I'm head of our security forces." He grinned.

"On that note, this is your gun." Triela pressed a package into his arms. "It's a bolter."

"A bolter? I thought you knew more about my methodology than most, Triela."

"You add components inside to modify it into a silenced sniper rifle. Eject those components when your enemies get near. Genius, isn't it?"

"I admit it was her idea, but I'm the one who made it." Clarisse said.

"Ah, that explains a few things."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Triela snapped.

"And these are my other gifts to you." Clarisse said, handing Agnus a pair of boots, gloves, and a watch.

"These things are more than a pair of boots, gloves, and a watch, right?"

"Read the manual."

"Not another one of your-"

"How dare you! I'll have you know it takes me hours to write those manuals!"

"I'll have you know it takes me hours to read them, days to make sense of them, and months to remember any of them!"

"But you never forget, right?" Clarisse smirked and adjusted her glasses.

Agnus sighed, having to concede that point.

"And from me. This is my gift to you."

"... Father. I wasn't expecting you."

Agnus's father approached the hatch of the shuttle, and then leaned in to whisper in Agnus's ear. "Let nothing stand in your way. If someone or something's willing to hurt you, kill it without hesitation. A dead enemy is an enemy that cannot hurt you. A dead friend is a friend who cannot be used against you."

"Yes, father."

* * *

><p>For my amusement and your entertainment. Updates: when I feel like it. Really, I have a ton of things to do.<p>

Chapters are not chronologically linear.

Story arcs will take a lot more than one chapter in the future. This chapter is mainly to get a feel for the character.

There will be no explicit lemons. Please watch healthy and proper porn, or get a date.

Please correct me on 40k lore if I got something wrong. I lost the box full of my Ravenor and Eisenhorn stuff when I moved in to the new dorm. I can't even remember if that pariah with the inhibitor was in Ravenor or Eisenhorn. It probably was in Ravenor, that blank was a chain-smoker (seriously).

Though technically Malleus, antagonists'll be all over the place (not just daemons).

It's 738 M.41. It's around that time so I can get in one of my favorite crusades, have plausible apperances of Necrons and Tyranids, make references to the past (Macharius, Maccrage, Armageddon, Ravenor, etc), and stretch it out to the 13th Black Crusade.

I'll assume I don't have to explain most things. Readers should be familiar enough with the 40K universe.

Juvenat treatment timeline is sketchy, but I'll take my cue from the Eisenhorn series and the more recent Ciaphas Cain series. Speaking of which, a combination of Eisenhorn seriousness and suspense with some light reading a la Ciaphas Cain is what I'll try.

'astartes' and 'inquisitor' won't be capitalized unless it's Adeptus Astartes. It's tiring to check and I doubt anyone cares.

Depending on your familiarity with the warhammer universe, Blizzard stuff, various animes, other games, tv shows, books, and whatnot, you might see a few familiar names. Sometimes it's intentional, sometimes it's not, but please don't read too much into it. It's mainly to save time and usually has little to no bearing on the actual character. Of course, there will be no Harry Potter, but there might be an Alucard Otter or Hermione Lamperouge (there most definitely won't be, but just as a few examples).


	2. A New Beginning

The following story arc comes about eighteen years after the prologue, set in the beginnings of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade in the rimward section of the Segmentum Pacificus, 756 M.41.

* * *

><p>Agnus studied the face of his archnemesis.<p>

His great enemy had led him into mortal danger on countless occasions, shoved him into the arms of slavering daemons, extorted hard-earned credits from him, dragged him into business he'd rather not have known about, and sometimes even raped him.

His mistress's face was as stoic as always, her blue eyes as calm and devoid of emotions as the depths of the Fenrisian sea. Well, those depths would be calm, if it weren't for the Kraken, Trollsharks, Spitefish, and only the Emperor knew what other monstrosities inhabited that Emperor-forsaken planet's depths. How people managed to survive in such places was beyond him.

Why anyone would choose to inhabit such a planet in the first place seemed like insanity to him, not that he'd ever say or even think that in front of a Space Wolf, of course.

Agnus Crowfeather was the second son of the head of the mighty Crowfeather Cartel, and was raised in a paradise world, after all. The very concept of deathworlds addled his brains.

How he had the tragic misfortune to come across his mistress was also beyond his understanding. Merigo Fiatma, for all intents and purposes, looked a mid thirty-something year old woman most likely to be found on paradise worlds, the upper levels of hives, and so on.

Daemons and cultists alike probably experienced profound shock in finding out that Merigo Fiatma was Grand Inquisitor Merigo Fiatma of the Ordo Malleus with a ninety-something years of experience in carving out the skulls of the enemies of Man.

Why his beloved home-planet, so close to the solar system, had the misfortune to have dunderheaded cultists was also beyond Agnus's understanding. Her mistress had yet to tell him how she came across the intel that such a planet, normally above scrutiny, held thousands of cultists who planned to murder millions in thermonuclear terrorism as an offering to Slaanesh as the price for their psyker's ascension.

It was the greatest display of sheer good fortune for the inhabitants of the paradise world, Cinna, that the cultists were stopped.

It was the greatest display of sheer misfortune for Agnus that he was a blank, and that his mistress thought that, lacking significant reinforcements who were delayed by the vagaries of the warp, he'd be useful against the Daemon Prince who led the cultists.

Of course, all Agnus could think about when Merigo came up to him first at an upper-class nightclub was that he might get lucky that night. Well, technically he did get lucky that night, but woke up to find himself in the Grand Inquisitor's suite.

He had nearly soiled himself at the sight of the Grand Inquisitor in her full regalia. The first thing he saw, other than checking out her breasts of course, Agnus was a man with an excellent sense of priorities, was the Inquisitorial rosette.

With a metaphorical but nevertheless very real inferno pistol aimed at his head, Merigo gave him two choices: serve her as apprentice, or die.

Agnus thought the latter option might be bad for his health in a permanent way. He voiced his concerns, and Merigo agreed with his assessment. Obviously, Agnus was averse to anything that would be detrimental to his health, especially in the permanent way.

"Raise." Merigo said, and tossed in two thousand-credit chips into the pile.

If Grand Inquisitor Merigo's expression was hard to read, that of Magos Wyrie Cazark's was impossible. His face was… unsettling, to say the least. Agnus wondered if the Magos had yet to replace his face completely.

The techpriest was some three hundred years old, and specialized in hacking logic engines, daemonology, weapons, xenos tech-heresy, biology, and a few other things. Apparently, he was considered one of the Imperium's leading experts on xenos tech-heresy.

Tech-heresy is punishable by death in the Mechanicus. Agnus frankly didn't give a damn about supposed tech-heresy, and managed to bribe the cogboys with random bits and pieces that he picked up fighting the Necrons some dozen years ago.

No one could really tell what the cogboys thought. Apparently, Necron technology was considered by most techpriests to be closest to human technology among xenos technologies, and therefore not as heretical as, say, Tau technosorcery.

Agnus thought that the atomization of a hundred space marines (he counted), tens of thousands of Imperial Guard (it was probably hundreds of thousands), three Dauntless class cruisers and accompanying escorts (that means dozens of starfaring ships), and seven billion civillians (women, children, etc) just on the civilized planet of Montroal alone (the entire solar system of that planet was nearly wiped clean) suggested otherwise. Only the Emperor knew why the Necrons decided to leave without finishing the job. Agnus wasn't going to question it; he was a little too busy thanking the Emperor for working whatever miracle it was that saved his blasphemous arse.

"Fold." Wyrie said. Agnus could have sworn it was the voice of a logic engine telling him he needed to pay up for downloading the porno slate: a depressingly dour and masculine voice if there ever is one, and Agnus wondered why the Imperium couldn't pick someone with a more, say, cheery voice.

"Ran the numbers, Wyrie?" Alice smirked.

Alice Stormwatch, from some deathworld Agnus had never heard of and had exactly negative three million point nine percent intention to visit, was an easy read. Her face displayed her emotions quite plainly, hiding nothing.

To underestimate that face was a grave mistake. She was a Callidus assassin, and one could never tell what one expression really meant when she could at a whim change her damned face. A smile might actually be a frown, for all he knew.

Agnus had no intention to visit her homeworld not because it was a deathworld, but for fear that it housed more daemons in human disguise like Alice. She made the first five years as interrogator a living hell for him, playing pranks on him whenever she was bored. It stopped being funny when he almost got vented from an airlock... in space. She finally got off his back when Agnus got on her back and yes, exactly for the purposes any literate adult reader would infer from that phrase.

"Call." Uran said.

It was easy to miss Uran. He was a squat, and his chin barely made it to the edge of the table. Still, he was an able combatant, a remakrable pilot of all kinds of vehicles and aircraft, a crack marksman, a legendary cook, and a godlike juggler. How such a tiny body had the strength to juggle chainswords was probably something beyond even the Emperor's realm of knowledge. Uran was also remarkably good at tech; Agnus could have sworn he was an enginseer when he, after listening to that dour logic engine's voice that he needed to pay up for downloading that porno slate, bypassed the security system in two minutes to gain unrestricted access to _all_ the damned porno slates in the hive world.

Hive worlds tend to have tens to hundreds of billions of people. If even 0.1% of the people worked in the pornography business, that Uran had access to all the porno slates on that planet was saying something.

Agnus picked him up by tracking him down after he had punched Merigo for a perceived slight against his ancestors. He could have just threatend him to join, but he was similar to Agnus in this regard. Uran joined to find a purpose in his otherwise meaningless life.

Fred, his longtime butler, poured him some more caffeine. Agnus murmured appreciatively and nodded at the Grand Inquisitor's emptying cup.

If Agnus trusted any one person in the world, it was Fred. It was a shame he was getting on with the years and Agnus didn't have quite the resources for the best rejuvenat treatments. Fred would die in six decades, and his grandson, who was back in Cinna, would replace him.

Anyhow, Agnus had learned quickly that it was a good thing to humor the Grand Inquisitor as many times as possible, whenever possible, wherever possible, and as shamelessly as possible. People who got on her bad side had the terrible habit of ending up dead in a ditch one random day. It was not a habit Agnus wanted to pick up.

"Call."

Dervis was a giant of a man, the product of generations of good breeding on the fortress world known throughout the Imperium as Cadia.

Not that anyone would really need to explain, but generations of breeding soldiers who could survive the baleful gaze of the Eye had made Cadians strong. Kasrkin were the best soldiers Cadia could offer. Dervis was a Kasrkin.

When Agnus and Dervis had first met some sixteen years ago, Agnus saved Dervis from the dozens of minor daemons who were understandably reluctant to approach a blank. Dervis, with the fortitude and professionalism inherent in all Kasrkin, proceeded to obliterate the weakened daemons in a timely fashion. Together, they made it back to the Grand Inquisitor's base of operations.

Dervis was dragooned into the Grand Inquisitor's service, and had since saved Agnus on eighty three occasions. Yes, Dervis kept score. Kasrkin, Agnus learned, took these matters quite seriously. Personally, Agnus thought Dervis was batcrap crazy and only forgave him because he had saved him on said eighty three occasions.

"Fold." A primal and growling voice announced.

If Dervis was a giant of a man, the man next to him could hardly be called a man. He was a giant, a superhuman, the Emperor's will made manifest.

Battle-brother Jelavich of the Grey Knights needed a special chair to accommodate his weight. He didn't like Agnus, but Agnus supposed that no psyker could really like him, even with the inhibitor on.

Jelavich was serving the Grand Inquisitor on a mission of penance, for he had defiled one of the Chapter's banners by bumping into the banner-bearer by mistake in the heat of battle and forcing the banner to the ground.

It was during a campaign overseen by the Grand Inquisitor, and Agnus was busy running away from the Bloodletters of Khorne. Yes, minor daemons usually ran from Agnus, but Agnus also usually ran from daemons, any daemons, unless under the stern gaze of his mistress who would tell him with a withering glare that she would castrate him, skin him alive, and repeat the measure for centuries if he did not hold his ground.

Anyhow, in the process of running away screaming in terror, Agnus found himself on the ground, weaponless (his bolt pistol spent on dispatching the one cultist who followed him. At the time, Agnus thought he was surrounded by dozens of cultists and shot randomly), and watching what was sure to end in the deaths of his mistress and the brave Grey Knights who fought alongside her. The Greater Daemon was a Bloodthirster, a champion of Khorne, and was practically immune to, well, almost anything.

Agnus knew that the death of his mistress and the Grey Knights meant his eventual death.

His right hand found the fallen banner, and with it, Agnus charged the Bloodthirster, ramming it in the rear. That it managed to pierce the spot where its anus should have been was a complete coincidence, or at least that was what Agnus swore his life on when asked about it by the higher-ups of the Grey Knights.

The Chapter banner was a sacred and sanctified object with catechisms of hate scrawled on every inch of the pole, and the sharpened end made it an effective spear. The holiness of the relic and Agnus's null powers distracted the Daemon for a moment.

A moment was all the advantage the Grand Inquisitor and the Grey Knights needed. The Daemon was banished and was scheduled to return in five thousand years somewhere in Segmentum Pacificus. Agnus grinned. That particular planet was deep in the heart of an Orkish empire. After the inevitable bloodletting between the daemons and the orks, the Imperium would sweep in to reclaim the fifteen habitable planets the greenskins managed to lay their filthy paws on some seven centuries ago. It would take years to properly sanctify them, and more because of the greenskins' filth than Chaos-residue, but still, the irony...

Considering that he'd be a freshman inquisitor, Merigo was being generous giving him such a talented retinue. Her own retinue numbered scores of men and women, of course.

"Fold." Agnus said. The only strong cards he had were the one Inquisitor and one Primarch. He didn't like the look on his mistress's face, which led him to suspect she had an Emperor Ascendant and some other strong cards.

It was proving to be a long night of losing streaks for Agnus. He really was lucky that Clarisse, his elder sister, indulged him so generously. If he couldn't contact her, Manfred, his elder brother, was quite concerned with keeping up the appearances of the Cartel and insisted on giving him as much credits as necessary to make Agnus presentable. Agnus often cited the horrific inflation, scandalous really, in whatever subsector he was in to churn more credits out of him.

Never mind that most subsectors he was dragged to had perfectly fine economies. Agnus also had to think about the expenses involved in bribing the Grand Inquisitor, after all. He thought Merigo secretly enjoyed draining his coffers and watching him squirm.

Just as he enjoyed watching her squirm in bed. For the Grand Inquisitor to be so very perverted was a source of great amusement to Agnus. He was, after all, a native of a paradise world and if there is one thing paradise worlds have in excess, it's sex. Agnus didn't feel love per se for his mistress, but he was a healthy human male and Merigo kept a great form. They both had functioning libidos that had to be satisfied once in a while lest the Slaaneshi take control of their pent-up desires.

Well, Slaanesh probably wouldn't go for Agnus since he was a blank, but Merigo was a fair target. Agnus wasn't a particularly devout man, but he served the Emperor in whatever little ways he could.

He had to be bribed, cajoled, forced, or threatened into it, but he served the Emperor in whatever little ways he could. Surprisingly enough, the Grand Inquisitor found that Agnus was an excellent marksman, for which Agnus was glad to learn that the ridiculously expensive neuro-implants and his right bionic eye were useful for something; a decent manager, for he was trained to run the Crowfeather Cartel in case his three elder siblings died; a wizard in jump-starting criminal enterprises and laying the foundations for an informant network, for that was essentially what started the Crowfeather Cartel on its path to glory; and had a remarkable and dogged penchant for survival.

Those were good traits in an inquisitor, but the addition of Agnus's null powers made him particularly valuable for an inquisitor of the Ordo Malleus.

Merigo had certain doubts about Agnus's faith, which she considered lackadaisical at best and dangerously close to heresy at worst, but Agnus had proved an able apprentice for the last eighteen standard years.

More importantly, the Inquisition needed as many able-bodied inquisitors as it could lay its hands on.

His official induction into the order as an inquisitor was about five years earlier than it should be, but circumstances demanded Agnus Crowfeather be an inquisitor.

The Sabbat Worlds' Crusade had two fronts, and the secondary front was facing disaster after disaster. One of the problems was supply, and the Crowfeather Cartel was one of the would-be suppliers of the war-effort. Agnus's father needed a representative there and the Inquisition needed to control the criminal underworld of the newly reclaimed planets.

Merigo was needed in other places in the Segmentum, but Agnus was definitely needed at the second front. It was one thing to recapture a planet. It was quite another to hold it. Planets once touched by Chaos ever held the threat of daemonic incursions. Agnus was to establish a quasi-criminal informant network in the Hijalmeer sub-sector and make certain that any daemonic incursion would be promptly detected and destroyed.

To prompt a daemonic incursion required cultists, and cultists were heretics. As such, the job would be a joint effort with a likewise novice inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus.

Agnus did not look forward to meeting an inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus, especially of the Puritan sort. The endless quarrels between the factions in the Inquisition made his head ache and Agnus desperately stayed out of their fights. He did not particularly care to understand their philosophies and wanted nothing to do with the piles of books Merigo had told him to read.

But then, he never wanted to be an inquisitor, either.

He would, as usual, do whatever is necessary to keep his life. In the Emperor's name, of course. Enrichening that life by appeasing his father and his immediate superiors at the Inquisition was just a bonus.

* * *

><p>Three Grand Inquisitors sat in judgment of Agnus Crowfeather.<p>

The fortress world of Toure was the primary bastion of Imperial power in the Heredina sub-sector. As such, the Inquisition kept a considerable presence there. It was also one of the primary staging grounds for the Sabbat Worlds Crusade, and most Inquisitional personnel and equipment crossed this planet for the war effort.

A prospective inquisitor needed the approval of at least three Grand Inquisitors.

Fortunately, Agnus's mistress was one of them. Unfortunately, failure would very likely mean death for the crime of knowing too much about daemons. Agnus wasn't a complete idiot as it concerned internial Inquisitional politics. He knew the Puritans' thought processes.

"... Well, this is an interesting candidate." The one on the left muttered.

Agnus couldn't see them, not well enough to make out their faces. The judges had a good view of the judged, but the judged had no rights. That was one of the principle tenets of the Inquisition.

"A petty criminal turned inquisitor? Well, I have no objections." The one in the middle said. Agnus now knew the one on the right was inquisitor Merigo Fiatma. "According to the records, he's less valiant than we might like, but given his specialty... and his null powers... especially against daemonkind."

"I don't know." The one on the left said. "Criminals will always be criminals. Who is to say that his greed won't blind him to his duties? Look, I am as favorably inclined as any of you to co-opting the criminal underworld, riding them to rags, and letting them die on our whim, but there is always the question of there being the wrong sort of criminal being raised to the top! A charismatic leader of a powerful underworld can destabilize the balance of power on a planet, perhaps take over the position of governor himself!"

"Erm... Grand Inquisitors. If I may be permitted to speak?" Agnus said nervously.

"Go ahead." The one in the middle sighed. Obviously, he was the most senior of the Grand Inquisitors present.

"There is indeed a chance that a charismatic leader of a powerful underworld will emerge, yes. That he will go for govenorship, however, is unlikely."

"And why is that? Who knows how these petty parasites think?" The Grand Inquisitor on the left said, who was now designated Arsehole 1 by Agnus.

"Ah, as you have said yourself, Grand Inquisitor, I am one of those petty parasites, I know how their single-celled brains think. In short, they will never, ever, do anything that'll harm the flow of credits."

"Becoming govenor of a planet is the easiest way to become rich!"

"Aside from the many implications that statement casts on current imperial planetary autonomy policies, I must tell you that in this case, the opposite would be true."

"The opposite? I've seen hundreds of worlds in my career, pup. That is the way it is on all, and I repeat, all, of those planets!"

"In this case, Grand Inquisitor, there is the added element of my family merchant cartel. By the very nature of my dealings with the criminal underworld, our cartel enjoys a certain... ah, advantage over our rivals. Once we monopolize the shipping, the trade, and whatnot... you see where I am going, don't you?"

Merigo finally rose to Agnus's defense. "Are the methods unorthodox? Yes. Have they worked? They have yet to fail. Is there a certain twisted logic to it? Yes."

"As she said." Agnus said. "My methods cost the Inquisition no resources, and instead adds the vast majority of the criminal underworld in any of the suborned planets to the potential fighting force of any inquisitor. They kill each other off on a regular basis, so they're well trained. Their livelihood depends on us, so they're well-motivated. They kill mutants and kill cultists because we incentivize them with bounties. It's better than, for instance, the traditional structure in which they're as likely to aid the cultists as not!"

"But still... the very idea of relying on criminals..." Arsehole 1 said ambivalently.

"Yes, Grand Inquisitor. I agree that the Imperium would do better without criminals altogether." Agnus said, nodding. "But... do you think that Imperium would ever exist? Do we have the resources we need to make that reality? You sound like a realist, Grand Inquisitor; you must know that that's impossible, and if we cannot destroy them, we might as well let them join us, in a manner of speaking."

"It's not as though he is solely a criminal." Merigo said. "He has proven himself, as you can see in my recommendation, in the heat of battle as well."

On paper, Agnus's battle records looked really good. In reality, of course, he was running away screaming in terror and only participated in the end after most of the real heroes were dead and he had no recourse but to save himself by fighting. He knew perfectly well that the defeat of the imperials meant his eventual demise; that was made all the worse by the penchant of Chaos to torture captives.

"Even if he were completely useless in battle, which I don't think he is, he'd be a valuable tool by the virtue of his being a pariah." The Grand Inquisitor in the middle, now dubbed King Dick 1, said.

The Imperium was still very much a patriarchal society and the vast majority of its institutions were lorded over by a man. The Emperor? Male. The Great Ecclesiarchs? Male. The Warmasters? Male. The Fabricator General? Male, with certain reservations. Space Marines? Male. Governors? Almost always male. The nuns with guns? Technically led by their Cannonesses, but ultimately ordered about by males. Agnus had no doubt that this Grand Inquisitor was in charge of this sub-sector at the least and perhaps the whole sector.

"I think the Warmaster's requests for more resources is getting to your judgment, Hassam." Arsehole 1 said.

"That is part of the reason, and in this case it is a stronger argument for him, not against him." Merigo shot back.

"Enough, both of you." King Dick 1 hissed. "Yes, the Warmaster has requested for more resources in skilled front-line Inquisitional personnel. For the front-line to be stable, however, the supply-lines must be secured and the retaken worlds pacified to become model imperial planets. This aspirant's skills make him uniquely well-suited to that role, and his null-powers will subdue the daemonic residue, no pun intended, on the reclaimed planets."

"Fine!" Arsehole 1 spat. "Just for the record, I'm not at all certain about this. It feels like we're lowering standards."

"If I may, Grand Inquisitor, I believe you're right." Agnus said, knowing full well that he was about to receive his rosette. "But as Grand Inquisitor Hassam and Merigo pointed out, the Inquisition and the Imperium suddenly have need of people like me. The same crieteria doesn't apply because I wouldn't be a front-line Inquisitor."

"Anyone object to one Agnus Crowfeather's induction into our ordo?" King Dick 1 said.

No one said anything.

A pedestal, an ornate classical one made of obsidian that would usually be used for vases of flowers and such, emerged from the ground in front of Agnus. On it was an Inquisitorial rosette.

"Congratulations, inquisitor Crowfeather, and welcome to the Ordo Malleus."

* * *

><p>"So you're alive?" Alice raised her eyebrow.<p>

"A right proper inquisitor now, hmm? Makes for exciting new opportunities." Uran grinned, a humongous pitcher of dark ale in his right hand. "Better amasec and ale, for one."

"Congratulations." Wyrie said in a voice that indicated he had absolutely no interest whether Agnus was stomped by a rampaging squiggoth or made an inquisitor.

"Let's get on with it." Jelavich said, tapping his foot.

"I haven't received my assignment yet." Agnus snapped back.

"You will, after a general briefing for the inquisitors gathered here. A new batch of some thirty inquisitors are setting off tomorrow." Merigo said, slamming the door open with a foot. "And... congratulations. You're an inquisitor now."

"I had a good mentor." Agnus said.

"If I hear you screwed up or loafed around, I'll hunt you down, and sell you to the dark eldar for one of their exquisite torturing kits." Merigo growled. "You were my interrogator. You are in one part my legacy, even if I die in battle against the enemies of Man. Do not stain my reputation."

"By the Emperor, you make it sound like I'm an amateur." Agnus said, reproach evident in his voice. "Besides, I'm not being sent to the front lines. I'll be busy restructuring sub-sectors to fit with our faction's ideals. I'll probably be the first to form veteran Imperial Guard regiments, whoever the other inquisitors are."

"Don't be cocky." Merigo warned, and turned to face the rest of the group. "Well, then. This is goodbye, for now."

"You're leaving already, mistress?" Alice asked.

"I'm a Grand Inquisitor. The Imperium needs me. Operation Redrake has already ridden into major daemonic resistance at Onscard."

"Farewell inquisitor, and may we meet again." Ulan bumped his right fist to his chest, understood to be a common gesture of respect in the surprisingly militant Squat (Homo Sapiens Rotundus) culture.

Merigo smiled, and leaned in to whisper a few words. From the way the Squat smiled back, Agnus could tell it was something to do with his ancestors, revenge, and that sort of things. Squats were so very predictable.

"Grand Inquisitor." The space marine bowed.

"An honor as well, battle-brother Jelavich."

"Mistress." The Callidus assassin took Merigo's own shape, curtsying and grinning like the crazy woman she was.

Merigo grinned back like the crazy woman she was. "Stay safe, my daughter."

Agnus coughed up and splattered the amasec he was drinking straight into Ulan's face. Ulan understandably took offence and punched him in the guts.

Merigo stared at him quizzically. "What's wrong with you?"

"When were you planning on tell me she's your daughter?" Agnus said choking and writhing on the ground.

"How did you not know?" The other Merigo, Alice asked.

"Almost seven decades of difference in age, for starters!"

"Gratitude for our mutually beneficial partnership schematics." Wyrie said. He never knew the right time to say these things.

"Huh? Oh, yes, I hope your researches prove as fruitful as ever, magos." Merigo said distractedly.

"Inquisitor, an honor." Dervis nodded curtly. "The Emperor protects."

"Ah, an honor as well, Dervis. May the Gate stay strong."

"Inquisitor." Agnus bowed.

"Inquisitor." Merigo bowed back.

Agnus leaned into whisper. "Thanks, for everything. For giving me a purpose. We'll meet again, I'm sure."

Merigo smiled. "You chose to give yourself a purpose. I just enabled you to pursue it. I have a surprise for you, by the way. It seems you'll be seeing your dear childhood friend a lot more often."

"You didn't..."

"Oh yes, I did." Merigo snorted and turned to leave. "Stay alive, everyone. Fight for the Imperium. With some more people like us, we can regain our former glory!"

All the imperials gave a resounding cheer, and continued celebrating Agnus's promotion.

* * *

><p>The vast auditorium was designed to house a thousand spectators.<p>

It only had thirty four people at the moment. It was the day after Grand Inquisitor Merigo's departure. Agnus sometimes thought that the Imperium forgot the sense of scale. There was a case for 'bigger is better', yes, but that was an argument largely confined to breasts and even then depended on proportion.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Grand Inquisitor Hassam shouted, flanked by two other Grand Inquisitors, likely of the other Ordos. "Welcome to Toure! Welcome to the new Sabbat Worlds Crusade!"

Shouts of approval greeted this statement. Agnus joined in lest he be perceived as less than enthusiastic, which he was.

"I'm sure you're all excited for your new assignments, so I'll keep this briefing as short as I can. Your dataslates should contain your assignments... now!" Hassam said, pressing an activation rune on his logic engine.

Agnus glanced at his data slate. Agnus was assigned to a hive world with, as Merigo had warned, a Hereticus inquisitor. They were all to meet up at Formal Prime, though, to pay obeisance to the Warmaster Slaydo.

There were several hundred pages' worth of data. It was all a fascinating read, he was sure. He'd have Fred and Wyrie read it later.

"As you can see from your dataslate," Hassam continued, "Operation Redrake was a success on all fronts. Imperial forces now officially have a foothold in the Sabbat worlds from which reinforcements and supplies sent by Segmentum Pacificus High Command can flow through."

"Wasn't there a hiccup at Formal Prime?" Agnus asked.

"Eh... yes, there was some prolonged resistance at Formal Prime, I grant you, but it has been officially pacified some three days ago! Some tens of thousands of guardsmen have been slain, that much is true.

"Anyhow, the priorities of frontline inquisitors would be to eliminate primary and unconventional threats, the likes of daemons, exotic xenos, Chaos space marines, and whatnot. The clean-up crew, so to speak, will concentrate on securing the reclaimed worlds and force them to produce men and war materials for the crusade as soon as possible.

"Despite the higher-than-anticipated attrition rate, there is no cause yet to believe that momentum will be dulled for some time to come. The Iron Snakes have pledged support for the Warmaster. The White Scars return to finish what they started in the original crusade. The Raven Guard are on the way. All reserve companies of the Silver Guard as well as their Third and Fourth Companies have already arrived. The reports of Dark Mechanicus activity have finally stirred up the damned mumbling cogboys - oops, excuse me -" Grand Inquisitor Hassam grinned. "Our _respected_ colleagues of the Cult Mechanicus have ordered their own Titan Legions into the crusade. Segmentum Pacificus can be expected to provide men and war materials for the next dozen years without serious strain."

"About the attrition rate, Grand Inquisitor, are the High Lords of Terra willing to replace the blood?" An inquisitor three rows to Agnus's left said. He was probably a Hereticus inquisitor; Agnus's now-colleagues at Hereticus were considerably less concerned about human life than most agents of Malleus and Xenos were.

'Blood indeed.' Agnus snorted inwardly, his mouth curling in contempt.

Hassam contemplated the question for a moment. "So far, the losses aren't so great that the High Lords of Terra will withdraw their support. However... who knows? They're the High Lords of Terra, and the Imperium is always at war. The High Lords fully expect Imperial presence in the Sabbat worlds to become more or less self-sufficient within the decade. The highest priority for our clean-up crews is to make sure that the reclaimed worlds provide men and war materials as soon as possible."

"Is it true that the Warmaster used an Ordinatus engine in the siege of Baelor XI? How're we supposed to make reclaimed worlds provide men and war materials when the Warmaster simply flattens the damned place?" An inquisitor two rows behind Agnus said. The mildly jarred quality of the voice led Agnus to suspect an augmetic jaw.

"You're an inquisitor. It's up to you to figure that out." Hassam reminded her. "Besides, he didn't completely flatten the place. It was just one city of seventy-three million people."

Now that he thought about it, most inquisitors Agnus had met had very little regard for human life. He suspected very few of them had family.

If Agnus remembered correctly, there were just over two million Archenemy troops on Baelor XI. The Warmaster flattened the place to save time and to demonstrate to the rest of the Crusade that Imperial momentum was strong. Agnus agreed that sometimes a message needed to be sent, of course. He was an inquisitor, not an armchair general or politician. However, he did think that the Warmaster could have at least tried to save the city using conventional means before putting the whole city to the sword.

But then, it was always easy to criticize in hindsight. Agnus was an agent, an operator, an inquisitor, but never a general. He had heard too many accounts of novice inquisitors playing at generals and losing their whole command. Not all of them were executed for inexcusable incompetence, and were no doubt dragging good imperial citizens to their deaths even to this day.

One of the most important things a novice inquisitor had to learn was that the rosette did not mean omnipotence, or so Merigo said.

All Agnus could do, and would do, was what he did best. He would get the hive world up and running again, producing men and war materials for the Crusade effort. Agnus would introduce the reforms that his faction enforced on the hive worlds and civilized worlds they passed by, making them model imperial planets acting as stabilizing anchors for nearby systems.

He would also suborn the criminal underworld and turn the useless pieces of grox shit into productive imperial citizens. He doubted newly reclaimed planets had much of a security force.

Agnus would do all he could to strengthen the Imperium which he despised, so that his friends and family at Cinna could stay safe.

* * *

><p>The intro chapter to the Sabbat Worlds Crusade was longer than I thought, and I apologize for there being no action in this chapter (if that's what you were expecting).<p>

There was a relatively brief intro to supporting characters, a couple of whom will last a very, very long time serving under Agnus.

Basically, Dervis, Jelavich, and Ulan are Agnus's muscles. Alice does things behind the lines as only a Callidus assassin can. Wyrie is a convenient plot device to explain most of Agnus's toys.

I had originally planned on Ulan being a ratling, but then I read the rather extensive page about squats. What can I say? I LOVE space dwarves, proud warrior races FTW! (or dwarfs as the Black Library seems to prefer) Damned Tyranids will pay!

About three decades of Agnus's life will be spent in the Sabbat Worlds, trying to stay out of trouble.

Two more important characters, one of them will serve with Agnus for centuries, will be introduced in the next chapter.


	3. The Sabbat Worlds!

If he thought the inquisitor from Hereticus would be his only problem, Agnus was wrong.

All five feet ten inches of Sephilia Fairchild was hell-bent on bludgeoning him to death in the shuttle-bay of _Daedalus_.

Agnus also found that complimenting her golden hair and emerald eyes didn't work at all. He didn't even have the chance to compliment her figure before she began a surprise assault.

"Ow! Sephilia, for the Emperor's sake!" Agnus dodged her staff once again. He glared at Uran, who shrugged and refused to be part of this argument. Squats took a sadistic pleasure in the discomfort of others, almost as much as they took pleasure in the discomfort they suffered.

"You." Sephilia snarled, and continued talking in her attempts to kill Agnus. "When Master Crowfeather told me I was to escort an inquisitor as part of my job, I thought 'why not? It's an honor to serve his Majesty's Inquisition.' You, on the other hand, are the most traitorous, selfish, narrow-minded, and criminal bastard I have ever laid my eyes on! I'm going to lodge a formal complaint to your father!"

"Sephilia, I'm serious! I am an Emperor-damned inquisitor!" Agnus just noticed his mistake.

"Again, taking the Emperor's name in vain!" Sephilia shrieked. This time, the staff connected with his ribs. It hurt like hell, yes, but then Agnus had grown quite used to pain over the decades and Sephilia sucked at close quarters combat. He grabbed the staff, and pulled Sephilia to him. She resisted fiercely, but Agnus's caraprace armor was made by an excellent artificer, and Agnus was trained by a space marine in unarmed combat. He still twitched at the thought of the pain he had endured at the hands of a certain space marine who was to go unnamed for his own safety.

"Marie, kill him!" Sephilia shrieked. However, the first-mate and executive officer seemed to possess the good sense not to assault an inquisitor, and tried to reason with her captain in that damnable void-born battle-tongue that Sephilia sank into whenever she wanted to vent and didn't feel like letting Agnus know what she was saying. She looked to be around fifty years old, and Agnus guessed that she was a Navy veteran that Sephilia's father kept for her usefulness. Juvenat treatments were only granted to the most useful, after all.

The rumbling echoes of ceramite and rhytmic footsteps marked the arrival of a power-armored humanoid.

Battle-brother Jelavich finally entered shuttle bay 3. No one could be ignorant of the presence of one of the Emperor's Angels of Death. No one paid attention to the rest of Agnus's retinue trailing behind him.

"... Are you Captain Sephilia Fairchild of the Daedalus?" Agnus inwardly snorted at the name of the ship. It was one of his father's jokes and no one seemed to realize it.

"Uh... erm... ah...uhhh... eek! Er..." apparently it was Sephilia's first time in laying her eyes upon one of the Emperor's finest. It was understandable, really, and very cute to Agnus. She'd have his hide if he said that out loud, though.

"Jelavich, this is Captain Sephilia Fairchild of this ship, a rogue trader in her own right. Sephilia, this is battle-brother Jelavich of the Grey Knights, and one of the best daemon-hunters in the Imperium," Agnus said.

"Yes, yes." Jelavich snapped, annoyed that mere mortals were wasting his time. "I need special quarters. Bring me your quartermaster." Despite Agnus's best attempts at unobtrusive humanization, one could always trust Jelavich to get to the point.

"Uh... wait a minute, so you're really an inquisitor?" Sephilia's eyes widened.

"Have I not been saying that for the last ten minutes?" Agnus sighed.

"Are you deaf, woman? I need to see your quartermaster," Jelavich repeated, his arms crossed and his eyes rolling in exasperation at the puny mortal woman who was refusing his politely-worded requests.

"Space marines aren't much for manners. Best do what he says, dear." Agnus whispered.

"Erm... I'm not sure we have quarters big enough for you. Oh, and it's an honor to meet one of the Emperor's Astartes."

"Inquisitor, you said she was resourceful," The space marine accused.

"Just give her a minute! It's the first time she's seen a hulking monstrosity of a superhuman." Agnus shot back.

"Captain, I think I can come up with a solution. Honored astartes, please follow me." Marie said. It was quite clear that the invitation was not extended to the rest of the group.

"Marie, see that the rest of this... group gets quarters, too." Sephilia said. Marie nodded, though she was understandably hesitant about the rest of the group. Agnus breathed a sigh of relief now that his retinue would get room and board.

"Umm... hello Agnus." He then noticed that he had yet to release Sephilia. She was usually gentle and well-mannered when no one was watching. And so shy one could swear she was a different person.

"Hello, Sephilia. You don't look like you aged a day." Agnus smiled a smile meant to reassure. The Inquisition taught its servants many skills, if they could be bothered to learn. Frankly, Agnus did his best to stay away from Grand Inquisitor Merigo and the best way to do that was to be in 'training'.

"Juvenat treatments, just like yours, courtesy of your father. Erm... are you going to let me go?" Agnus suspected as much. His father believed that it would be best to further cement the connections with the Fairchild family and thus gain access to its naval connections. His mother adored Sephilia, too, but for a very different reason.

"Why would I ever let such a beautiful creature leave my side?" Agnus decided to risk kissing her forehead. It had been a long time, but he could tell he still loved her. Even this minor contact sent shivers up his spine. To his delight, Sephilia turned crimson though she tried hard to conceal it.

"That was inappropriate! I... I have a bridge to manage, a navigator to appease, data to log, I'm the Captain of this ship for the Emperor's sake!" Sephilia hadn't changed much. The ship was still her life.

"And I'm the inquisitor," Agnus reminded her. "I think we can retire to your quarters to get a... briefing on the ship's capabilities, our schedules, arrangements, and whatnot."

"You... I never thought you of all people would be an inquisitor. How? Why?"

Agnus shrugged. "Dragged into it by an Inquisitor who noticed that I'm a blank. Sort of dragged along for near two decades, and found out I have a considerable talent for survival. As to why... the inquisitor told me a few things, and I realized that you were right. Mostly right."

"I'm sorry. What I said was mean, and I was spiteful." Sephilia continued in her half-hearted attempts to break free, not that she'd ever succeed with a full-spirited attempt.

"Terribly, but you were right." Agnus chuckled. "I was selfish. I had no purpose in life. I was wasting my education and genetic gift. Anyhow, I still believe that the Imperium is a terrible state for humanity. But... the inquisitor made me realize that the alternatives are far worse, and with an almost successful daemonic ascension so close to home-"

"At Cinna?"

"Don't worry, that's where the inquisitor and I met. The would-be Daemon Prince was slain." Agnus said quickly, for Sephilia had friends and family there. "The point is, I thought that the wars and the crusades are not as far as they seem. I might stop a daemonic incursion that sets the stage for an attack on my friends and family, people I hold dear. Admittedly my line of talent is not quite usual in the Inquisition but I can do something about the threats rather than wasting away my life in pursuit of fleeting pleasures. And if there is one thing I will never tolerate, it is a threat to people I hold dear."

"Huh... you changed." Sephilia stroked his face with a hand she managed to free, and Agnus basked in the pleasure of it. "Just a little."

"That bolter to the back of my head helped, too."

"You shouldn't say that." Sephilia said reproachfully.

"Anyhow, the higher-ups at the Inquisition agree that I'm more suitable to dealing in the back alleys and the far corners, away from the main lines. You'll be able to continue business as usual, I promise. I would never have let my father drag you into this if I thought you'd be in more danger than you're usually in. I swear to you, anyone who intends to do you harm will die."

"That sounds dangerously close to a confession of love, Agnus Crowfeather," Sephilia smirked in triumph.

"I thought we went over that when we were fourteen. I love you, and if I think a world's existence threatens you, I'll authorize an exterminatus on it." Agnus embraced her more tightly, and dared to kiss her neck lightly, probing.

"I don't think you're supposed to do that."

"I'm an inquisitor, and I specialize in co-opting the criminal underworld while generating profits for my father's cartel. I assassinate, backstab, burgle, cheat, corrupt, hack, lie, murder, pickpocket, seduce, smuggle, and steal. I think kissing you is the most harmless thing I've done in a while."

"No, the exterminatus part." Sephilia said, a hint of complaint edging her voice as Agnus pulled away from her neck.

"Of course not, I hope I never have to do that in my career." Agnus shivered, remembering an incident some eight years ago. "So, where's our room?"

"Our room? You mean your room you disgusting pervert!" Sephilia said, outrage evident on her face.

"Yes, your room." Agnus didn't particularly care about the designation of the room. Agnus's augmented right arm lifted Sephilia, and he tossed him over his shoulder as a fireman would.

"Someone might see us! They might get ideas!" Sephilia hissed, struggling against his arms. Her prospects against his right arm was nil, however, and Agnus was quite intent on ravishing the Captain in her own chambers.

"It might undermine my authority as Captain!"

Agnus hadn't considered that, and he reluctantly let her down. His bionic arm still had an iron grip on her shoulder, though. "Well, Captain? I thought you were going to show me to your quarters."

"No!"

"Ah, you want to use the bridge for those purposes? How very naughty you've become, Sephilia." Agnus grinned. "The most you risked the last time, if I remember correctly, was one of the shuttles."

"Of course not! I-"

"Then we'll have our discussion in private, Captain. It is the business of the Inquisition to keep secrets, is it not?" The inquisitor led her to her chambers. It was the same room as the one she had some five years ago. Sephilia's guide servo-skull helped, too.

The few crew-members they met on the way saluted the Captain and kept a reasonably safe distance away from the inquisitor.

The security protocol recognized Sephilia's hand. Agnus put on his favorite inquisitorial sign at the door, which also served as license plate for his motorcycle, which read, 'inquisitorial jurisdiction, approach at your own mortal peril'. It had only cost him five credits in one of the lower hives. The vendor of the sign, of course, was executed for blasphemy.

It was no wonder that his motorcycle became scrap metal some fifteen years ago, but that was hardly the point. Loyal imperials knew to keep their distance.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe I let you talk me into this! My father'll kill me if he finds out!" Sephilia shrieked, accentuating every syllable by trying to hit Agnus.<p>

"Sephilia, he has to know by now that you're thirty six years old and no longer a virgin." Agnus said, trying to keep her contained. The morning recaff and breakfast-in-bed routine wasn't doing what it should have done. Agnus admitted that he might have gone a bit far with the use of chains. "If it's any consolation, my parents think very highly of you."

"... You told my employers that I lost my virginity to you?" Agnus did not like the tone, or the direction this conversation was headed, and was quick to respond.

"Of course not!"

"Liar!" Agnus flinched. He was only saved by the arrival of the executive officer, who had apparently gotten over the fear of the sign Agnus had posted. That was quicker than he expected but most convenient.

"Er... excuse me, I seem to be intruding." Marie said, trying to back out.

"This is not what it looks like, Marie!" Sephilia screamed. "What is it?"

Agnus thought that only drew more attention to what the scene looked like, but was wise enough to keep that thought to himself.

"Paperwork, bridge to manage, crew to calm, navigator to appease. You know, the usual."

"... How many people know about the inquisitor?"

"About his presence? Everyone. That you've been with him for the last dozen hours in your room? Just five. Six if you include the space marine." Marie said. Agnus could tell she was trying her best to keep her laughter down, and was fighting a losing battle. "Seven if you include the ratling. Eight if you include the cogboy."

"... This is all your fault."

"How is this my fault?" Agnus said indignantly. "For all they know, we could have really been discussing Inquisition business for the past twelve hours! If you want, I'll release a written statement to that effect!"

"Marie!" Sephilia now sought comfort in the arms of someone Agnus had just realized was a mother figure of a sort. He gulped as Marie sent him a death-glare. Agnus was reminded of one of inquisitor Merigo's favorite phrases, 'people suck'. He quickly put on his best 'I intend to marry her' face.

After all, now that he thought about it, he was in an alien and hostile environment with next to no weapons. He wasn't particularly adept at close quarters combat, but he had no doubt that Marie was, and probably very proficient at kneeing balls. All that was keeping him from a beating of a lifetime was Sephilia and the inquisitorial rosette.

"I, er… have urgent business, inquisitorial business," Agnus said, and slipped through the door before anyone could hinder him.

* * *

><p>The warp journey to Arvinx Cardinal was a long one, as all warp journeys were.<p>

Well, or so the non-blanks around him told him. Agnus couldn't feel anything at all. Supposedly being in the warp for long was nauseating but he had yet to be nauseated from anything other than Sephilia hitting him for teasing her and Jelavich hitting him because he was a sadistic and masochistic bastard, also known as space marine.

Thankfully, both of his abusers' moods got better when the _Daedalus_ translated out of the warp.

"Do I have to go?" Sephilia whined.

"The Warmaster is there. There'll be good food." Agnus had been trying to coax her out of the ship for the last two hours.

Sephilia Fairchild hated what she called 'dirtside'. Agnus had sworn that he'd help her get accustomed to living on a planet.

If he wasn't killed in his duties, that is. Few inquisitors survived to be old. Even fewer survived long enough to be retired. That was why the inquisitorial retirement plan was so extravagant.

The Inquisition was full of sadists, and they loved their little jokes.

Agnus hoped for early retirement, perhaps in about two hundred years or so. Until then, he'd just have to pretend to perform his duties on the most coreward of sectors and the most loyal of planets. That he was dragged into a crusade galled him, but even in a crusade, one could stay far behind the front lines and spend years cleaning up the mess the Warmaster made.

He'd cheerfully bribe, cheat, and lie his way out of front-line duties. Hopefully, Sephilia in a revealing blue dress would distract the Warmaster and Grand Inquisitors long enough for his agenda to get through. Agnus would never tell Sephilia that, of course.

Sephilia finally emerged from the dressing room. While she hated leaving her ship, she loved fresh food and fresh food was rarely available after weeks of warp-travel, even to the Captain.

"To the shuttle." Agnus ushered his retinue out of the shuttle. "Uran, Wyrie, Alice, try not to cause any trouble while we're gone."

"Just remember to bring back some food." Uran said. He knew well that a squat would never be allowed to attend a meeting of dignitaries.

Wyrie insisted that he had an implant for social interactions. Agnus thought, well, knew, that the techpriests of Mars had a serious misunderstanding of what social interactions were. Of course, they could just be batcrap crazy; if Agnus had to bet, he would bet on that and go all in.

"I don't know why I'm not allowed to go." Alice sighed in frustration.

"I told you… it's bad manners to bring an Assassin to high social functions. There could be, ah… a misunderstanding."

Alice shrugged. "Whatever, just bring back some leftovers. Approaching the landing zone, inquisitor."

Agnus looked out of the starboard window of the salvaged, heavily modified, and repainted Thunderhawk. It was a one of the prizes from the space hulk _Infidus Malevolent_ that he and Deathwatch squads boarded to destroy.

Agnus shuddered at the memory. Inquisitor Merigo owed an Ordo Xenos colleague a debt, and had repaid him by loaning him Agnus. He was used as a null-sphere to disrupt the communications of the Tyranids.

Now, Agnus had a healthy dose of respect and fear for anything that could kill him. The Tyranids came at a close fourth.

Necrons would atomize him, a quick and easy death. Orks would chop his head off, almost as good as the Necrons. The Eldar and their dark kindred all had some measure of latent warp powers, so they kept their distance from him or would simply kill him from a distance. The Chaos Gods couldn't touch his soul. The Tau would shoot him in the face.

The Tyranids, though, would eat him alive and convert his biomass into more of their kind. It was the longest and most painful death any of the enemies of Man could inflict on him.

Still, his void powers came in handy disrupting the connections of the Tyranid swarm on the Space Hulk. While he was running away from the main fight, he accidentally ran into the Hive Tyrant and his strangely astartes-like bodyguards.

Agnus dodged and evaded for all he was worth, and when the Deathwatch noticed the Hive Tyrant, they proceeded to dismantle it piece by piece.

Somehow the useless mortal's part in the battle was construed as 'a heroic rearguard effort' that gave the Deathwatch squads time to mop up the main forces (too far from the Hive Tyrant and cut off from command) and return to engage the Hive Tyrant. The Blood Angel sergeant, Laertes, was so impressed that he gave him the code to summon Blood Angels over astrotelepathic messaging. Apparently he was a 'Friend of the Chapter'.

Of course, Blood Angels could only be in so many places at once and it was unlikely they would arrive in time but Agnus would know that his death would be avenged, at least.

Anyhow, the third was his mother, the second his father, and the first, of course, the Inquisition.

Agnus smirked as he was reminded of an old saying, 'with friends like these…'

The Governor's Palace was huge. The boarding ramp lowered to let Agnus and his retinue out.

Guard stormtroopers stopped Agnus. "identification?"

Agnus wasn't on a mission and had no need to hide his identity, so flashed them the rosette. He jerked a thumb at his retinue. "They're with me."

The stromtroopers glanced at the rosette and gave a nonchalant shrug. "The reception's about to start, inquisitor."

Apparently other inquisitors had passed through, or they'd be a little more worried, Agnus thought. He pulled Sephilia forwards and gestured at the rest of his retinue to follow. It'd get easier once dinner was ready, and he'd distract Sephilia from her anxiety at being away from her ship with fresh food.

"Excuse me. Inquisitor Agnus of the Ordo Malleus?"

"Eh?" was Agnus's elegant response. He turned to see a red-haired man, an inch shorter than he was but much better built than his relatively wiry form. The man also wore an inquisitorial rosette around his neck.

"Ah, how rude of me. I'm the novice representative of Hereticus on our joint-mission. Inquisitor Khyas Mack at your service."

Agnus put on his best fake-smile. "Ha ha, a pleasure. I understand we'll be, ah… working together for the next few months? Ah, where are my own manners? This is battle-brother Jelavich, you know which Chapter of course. This is the chief of my men-at-arms, Dervis, former Kasrkin of the Cadian 92nd. This is Sephilia Fairchild, a rogue trader and captain of the _Daedalus._"

"I see. An honor, Grey Knight, and you as well Kasrkin. Captain, my ship and I will be in your care."

"Your ship, inquisitor?" Sephilia asked.

"Yes, it's a small inquisitorial corvette, meant for covert operations. Not enough firepower for the front lines."

"I see. And wow if that isn't the most, er… pious group of retainers I've ever seen in my life."

Khyas looked around at his retinue, and saw Agnus's point.

"This is Confessor Shamos, Canoness Ezeriya of the Order of the Argent Shroud, and that is father Johanne, imperial battle-priest."

"Canoness? Doesn't one command like, two hundred battle sisters?" Agnus frowned. "Do we already have a destination?"

"You didn't get the memo?"

"Don't mind me, I never get the memo," Agnus rolled his eyes, and gave Khyas his data slate.

"Huh, you really didn't get the memo. Well, to keep things simple we're heading over to a recently retaken hive world."

"The Crusade already began?" Agnus didn't mind not getting the memo, but he drew the line at not being informed that the Crusade began.

"Emperor, no! It's a hive world that just finished a civil war."

"Imperials won, right?" Agnus asked hopefully.

"Yes. We're going there to clean up the mess and attend to our respective professions."

"You burn the heretics, I'll banish the daemons."

There was a loud clanging sound of a fork hitting a glass. The hall went silent.

"Friends, comrades, imperials!"

A cheer went up at the end of the phrase, and Agnus dutifully joined in.

"It is my honor to present to you, Warmaster Slaydo!"

Another roar of approval and oaths of loyalty went up. Agnus doubted those oaths would mean anything once the shit hit the fan, but still, he was a conformist in these matters. It was best not to stick out too much.

"Please, take the nearest seats for the Warmaster's greetings!"

"Jelavich, conquer that table!" Agnus shouted, pointing to a table at the very corner of the hall. "Dervis, help me!"

Agnus, with Dervis's help, snatched up Sephilia and started towards the destination. She protested and struggled violently at being taken away from the food tables. Dervis got the hint and shoveled food onto four plates that he expertly held in one hand and picked up five bottles of amasec with the other.

Agnus was going to test had him tested for latent psyker potential. The test turned out negative. He was beginning to doubt the veracity of that test.

Apparently, others of an inquisitorial nature had sent their champions, too. Inquisitors generally preferred corners, shadows, nooks, and crannies.

But none of them had thought to send a space marine.

Battle brother-Jelavich stood victoriously at the recently conquered table.

Agnus and the rest of his retinue made it shortly thereafter.

The inquisitor turned his attention to the dais, where he expected the Warmaster to appear shortly.

The Warmaster was a fair-haired man, a little short but that just might have been because his bodyguards were too tall. He was well-built, a warrior as well as a field marshal. His beard reminded him a little of his uncle, long-dead at his father's hands.

"… We have been given our Crusade… the Sabbat Worlds!"

A deafening, thundering roar of approval swept out from the section that seated the Warmaster's old comrades from the Khulen Wars.

"Hmph… he got older," Sephilia commented between mouthfuls of luxurious food.

"Huh? You met him before?"

"Distant relative, very distant," Sephilia shrugged.

"Your distant relative is a Warmaster?"

"Is that so hard to believe?" she raised an eyebrow, daring him to insult her family.

"Ah… well do you think you can ask him to keep me ways back from the front lines?"

Sephilia swallowed, washed the food down with some amasec, and said, "Emperor, no! That would deprive you of the glory of being a Crusader!"

"Well, you see, I'd rather do without such glory-"

"You will go wherever the Crusade needs you, and you will be happy about it," Sephilia glared.

"But I have such a delicate constitution," Agnus pouted.

Sephilia thumped him on the head with her fan. The fan was made of metal and Agnus buried his face into his arms so as to keep himself from groaning.

As the applause died down, the Warmaster began anew, and Agnus found that he couldn't help but listen.

"In the 35th millennium, Saint Sabbat rose from the plains of Hagia. She seemed such a simple, unremarkable little girl at first…."

Agnus's ears perked up. That sounded dangerously close to heresy.

"But our Divine Emperor has ways of making greatness from small beginnings. He chose her as his champion in this blighted realm of heathen worlds."

Agnus's interests died down. He saw that this would be the usual God-Emperor drabble. Probably had something to do with human potential, too.

And he couldn't get away with the normal ways of amusing himself, either. Too many people with bionic or superhuman eyes, though the presence of so many jeweled weapons was making his hands ache to find them new owners.

Then, inspiration struck him.

Agnus grinned, and kissed Sephilia's earlobe. Sephilia battered him away, hissing, "There are people around us."

"Well, you did say I was a perverted dog. I've got to act my part."

"Shush. The Warmaster is speaking."

"Something about cooperation, imperial honor, gratitude to the Emperor, and a general overview of the Crusade plans, no doubt. Note that I'm not interested in any of those things." Agnus sneaked his left hand below the round dining table he and his entourage occupied.

Battle-brother Jelavich and sergeant Dervis noticed; hardened soldiers don't live long without a wide peripheral vision. They also had the good sense to pay a great deal of attention to the speech instead of the other side of the table.

Sephilia's right hand went down in defense.

"The Warmaster, in his wisdom, granted his guests lodging for several days before they go off to their respective duties," Agnus purred in her ears.

Sephilia paled. She really despised planetside, and felt nervous when she wasn't on her ship. "No, I need to get back to the _Daedalus_."

"If I recall correctly, you liked the hot springs at Cinna." Agnus smiled what he hoped was a reassuring, non-aggressive, and far from predatory smile. It was impossible to get any significant amount of hot water on a ship, even for the captain. "I also hear the local fare is fresh. It is this planet's 'fall' in terms of seasons. The _Herald of Titan_ is scheduled to arrive within the week, and we're not going anywhere without it, so…."

As much as she tried to deny herself pleasures, and as much as she hated 'dirtside', Sephilia loved fresh food and hot water. Agnus expected she'd cave in by the end of the Warmaster's speech. She would express her reluctant agreement to his suggestions only back at the shuttle, of course, supposedly to help him get some R & R before warping out to his new assignment. Something of the sort.

Sephilia's expression turned to one of happiness, but became a frown. "This planet was only recently reconquered. Who knows what's out there."

"It'll be fine, they had years to clean up and resanctify. I'm the expert on these matters, remember?" Agnus chuckled. "It'll be my pleasure to show you what 'sanctify' means, dear, to scrub clean the, ah… impurities, shall we say, off your body. Oh, and since it's a private resort bathrobes won't be necessary."

Sephilia blushed furiously, and yelped, "pervert!" while smacking Agnus on the head. She blushed even more when she realized she had said that out loud and some heads that weren't paying attention to the Warmaster turned to stare at her. Sephilia also had to keep herself from shivering when she realized that Agnus's left hand was assaulting the now vulnerable thighs.

"Stop it," she hissed.

Agnus took full advantage of inquisitorial immunity, paying less than no attention to the Warmaster's speech. Fortunately, he was only a novice inquisitor and his table was situated towards the very corner of the Great Hall.

"My Lady, do you wish to go to the, ah… bathroom for a moment?"

Sephilia was panting, and caught a breath to regain a measure of her dignity. "If only to stop your ridiculous antics, yes!"

"Excellent, let me guide you there."

* * *

><p>The intervox in the captain's quarters crackled. "Captain, the <em>Herald of Titan<em> has just translated into real-space."

"… We'd better get dressed, dear."

Sephilia groaned under the covers. "So loud," she mumbled.

"Usually, I'm in favor of your staying undressed but now isn't the time. Lift your left leg a little," Agnus said, forcing her pants on.

"I'm going to have my crew vent you out an airlock," Sephilia groaned.

"Feel free after greeting the Astartes with some semblance of propriety. These are Grey Knights. They actually care about decorum and such." Agnus knew something was terribly wrong if he was missing the Space Wolves, who didn't give a damn about mortals. At least they knew how to simply charge into the mess and take care of the problem themselves. Grey Knights, stubborn bastards that they are, always insisted on 'tactics' which invariably meant dragging him along with them.

"Turn around."

Agnus rolled his eyes. "Nothing there I haven't seen, or touched, or licked."

A foot struck out from under the covers, and hit Agnus on the head. "Only because you can't function without satiating your urges, kind of like a rutting dog."

"Oh? So you want a quick one before meeting the Astartes? How bold, so unlike you."

"Fine!" Sephilia said, kicking off the covers. She crossed over to the intervox. "Marie, three minutes. Have an honor guard assemble. Permission granted for the Astartes Thunderhawk to dock at 3H."

"Captain, they've hailed us. They insist time is of the essence. Burst transmission containing Inquisitorial code signatures."

"Eh? They're not even going to greet us?" Sephilia was obviously appalled by the Astartes' lack of social grace.

Agnus shrugged. "They often do that. Executive Officer, please send the encrypted transmission to Wyrie. We will depart after picking up the package they have for me."

"What's in the package?"

"Careful Sephilia… that's a secret of the Inquisition you're asking for."

"… So I didn't even have to get dressed?"

"… You're not dressed, Captain?" the XO asked.

"I'll be more than glad to return her to her, ah… 'natural' state."

"So… just to be clear, she is dressed?"

"That will be all. Please send my work to my office." Sephilia said, and turned off the intervox. "Agnus… I understand that you're an inquisitor now, but that does not excuse undermining my authority on my ship. I was lucky that was Marie, but please don't do that with anyone else around."

Agnus gave pause at the startling lack of violence that went with her request. The tone, just dignified enough to not be begging but vulnerable enough to be pleading, struck a chord in him.

When she really wanted to, Sephilia could make him feel so guilty that he would grovel for forgiveness.

"I'm sorry, Sephilia, that was out of line…. Would you kindly forgive me, my Lady?"

Sephilia took a sadistic joy in turning the tables on the inquisitor, and let him stew for a while, before saying, "I'll consider it, depending on your behavior today."

"I'll do anything you want." Agnus helped her put on her naval uniform. Though she was a Rogue Trader, Sephilia had a strong Navy background and so did most of the essential crew. There was also the added benefit of having his way with her in the uniform, a near-fetish of Agnus's. "Although if you want me to clean the public restrooms, you're looking at the wrong inquisitor."

"An amusing prospect but… no one really cleans the public restrooms." Agnus raised an eyebrow, which Sephilia saw. She shrugged, "Navy tradition. Once tried to get my father to explain it, but he had no idea, either. Supposedly it had something to do with the Emperor saying, during the Great Crusade, 'if you have time to clean the bathroom, check the security protocols and calibrate the weapons', or something in that vein."

"Eww…. I don't think he meant to let them be cesspools of, well, shit. Anyhow, if it's anything to do with helping you, I'm up for it. I'll check in with you at your office after I find out what was in that encrypted transition."

"Alright. Ah, your personal passcode around the ship is 02138. Try not to get lost. Do you want me to give you a guide?"

"I'll manage," Agnus said. "Will you allow me to escort you to your office, my Lady?"

"Certainly, my Lord," Sephilia said just as politely, but took the proffered arm.

* * *

><p>Agnus couldn't believe his data slate.<p>

Something had gone very, very wrong. This was supposed to be his first assignment, for the Emperor's sake.

"… One out of five possible planets for the return of a Daemon Prince designated Extremis Diabolus?" Agnus frowned.

"Yes. Your Malleus headquarters isn't sure where exactly, but they know when exactly. They divided up their available resources to cover all the possible planets," Wyrie said.

"Fifty Grey Knights…" Uran breathed.

"Fifty one," Jelavich corrected.

"Well, one in five are good chances, right?" Alice asked, thinking along similar veins as Agnus was

"Terrible. Four in five that the glory of slaying this beast goes to others and we play nursemaid to a whimpering hive world nobles," Jelavich snarled, having the opposite views the inquisitor had on this matter.

What he had just described was the ideal world for Agnus, and his heart leapt at the thought. It might turn out that his first post was a cushy job after all.

* * *

><p>Apologies for the long wait but exam season. Although, I wrote enough for the next chapter by mistake that another chapter'll be coming out next week. Very action-heavy.<p> 


	4. The First Assignment

The hive world of Aether IV was a vital world to the smidgen of Imperium-held space in this misbegotten corner of the galaxy. Its industrial output supported many civilized worlds, agricultural worlds, and even one paradise world.

Aether IV had recently concluded a ruinous civil war between Emperor-fearing men and the ruinous powers.

Surprisingly enough, for the Sabbat Worlds anyways, the imperials won. Granted, there was the support of four Guard regiments and three inquisitors, but still.

The important thing was that a Daemon Prince of Chaos could, with a roughly one in five chance, emerge from the immaterium on this planet. Agnus was ordered to destroy it should it emerge. Khyas was ordered to kill the cultists before the summoning was complete.

They had secondary mission objectives, too, but that was the gist of it. Agnus had to put down or suborn the world's criminal elements. Khyas had to investigate something or another, Agnus didn't know and he couldn't possibly care less. Khyas had turned out to be less of a pain in the arse than he had expected him to be, and of that Agnus was grateful. In return, he'd show him the courtesy of not poking his nose into his side of the business.

Agnus had emptied and cordoned off one of the starboard viewing ports. Sephilia loved to see the stars when she didn't have work, and he wanted to associate himself with the good memories.

Sephilia leaned back into him, and Agnus groaned. "Aren't you getting a little fat, my love? What did you have for breakfast? I don't remember cooking you ferrocrete."

To Agnus's mild surprise, she declined to rise to the bait. They were just passing another planet in the system, which had three habitable planets.

The verdant ocean world that lay in front of them was something amazing, perhaps even more beautiful than the picture of Terra from space preserved for some 30,000 + years. It was ironic that in the same system an ugly hive world could exist.

"I miss swimming..." Sephilia said with such wistful longing that it hurt Agnusu to not be able to produce at least a swimming pool on the ship at a moment's notice.

"Do you want to take some R & R there after I've finished my business? I'll do my job half-assed to get it over with quickly."

"Emperor no. I'd drown. And don't say things like that, you're an inquisitor damn it!"

"Come on, you know how to swim, you can't have forgotten it," Agnus frowned.

Sephilia shrugged. "How could I know? Not even enough space for a decent-sized bathtub on a ship… though it's better in all other aspects than dirtside, mind you."

Agnus sighed, "I don't see what you see in this blocky-"

"The _Daedalus_ is the most beautiful thing in the galaxy! Umm… other than the Emperor, that is."

"On that, I'll respectfully disagree."

Sephilia snorted, "imperial credits? You merchant types are all the same! Completely without honor!"

"A very distant twentieth, at best, I'll have you know, but it is a widely known and accepted fact that Sephilia Fairchild is the most beautiful being in the galaxy."

Agnus chuckled as Sephilia buried her face in her knees. She regained her composure in due course.

"Still, it's comforting to find that in a galaxy of war, such beauty can exist," Sephilia pointed at the planet.

"On that we agree. I think we should celebrate the Emperor's gift of this galaxy to us," Agnus didn't mean a word of what he said, but stargazing got boring after a while.

Sephilia's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "When you say celebrate-"

"I meant with a prayer or a silent reflection. What were you thinking about?" Agnus grinned, "tsk… thinking dirty and impure thoughts again, are we? I swear you have your mind in the gutter-"

"No I wasn't!" Sephilia shrieked, her face flushed red.

"But since you're so willing to think in that direction, I think it is a standard procedure in the Inquisition to celebrate in the manner you thought of as reaffirming our thanks to the Emperor for our lives and the ability to continue our specie's existence."

"What? That's so close to heresy I swear by the Emperor – no, wait you pervert! Where do you think you're touching?"

"It's alright, Jelavich is standing watch outside," Agnus continued doing what he was doing.

"He can hear us!"

"Jelavich, I order you to not listen to any sound that comes from this room!"

"That's not the same!"

By then, Agnus had lost the ability to understand Low Gothic.

* * *

><p>The reception was uneventful. The governor wasn't expecting them for another week, at least, and wasn't prepared to roll out the red carpet.<p>

Agnus and Khyas agreed that it would be best to settle a few scores and clear a few checkpoints before the formal banquet, which would announce to everyone on the world that they were here.

"Wow… if there's one thing good about dirtside, lots of space."

Agnus chuckled. Sephilia's job as a rogue trader meant she was pampered in terms of space aboard her ship, but still, a ship was a ship. A house of the upper hives, on the other hand, especially that provided by a governor who thought it wise to ingratiate himself with an inquisitor, was gigantic.

But then again, Agnus was worried. A hive was a big place, with many places to get lost in. It had its own customs and rules, impossible to discern for outsiders. Sephilia was used to the comfort and security of paradise worlds, or the absolute authority she had over the _Daedalus_.

A hive world had a significant criminal element that would love to take a wealthy woman like Sephilia hostage. If anything happened to her, she might never want to stay on a planet again.

Though Agnus doubted the criminal elements of the hive would try anything so daring as venturing into the upper hives, he couldn't be certain.

"Sephilia, I'll be working while I'm here so I'm afraid I won't be able to escort you many places."

"That's fine. I don't need to be led around. Where's Sebastian?"

Agnus knew that Sebastian, his butler, had a calming effect on Sephilia. When they were young, it was he who looked after them when they were playing. Naturally, the onslaught of teenage hormones meant he had to give them more privacy, but still, one never forgets one's protector. Agnus had ordered him back to his side upon his ascension as inquisitor. He needed all the edge he could get and one absolutely loyal and reliably competent servant was definitely an edge.

He looked after Agnus's many business interests, primarily his duties as a significant shareholder in the family cartel and the grey side of its businesses. He was summoned to Aether IV back to his real job. His son would look after Agnus's business interests.

When he died, his grandson would replace him as Agnus's butler. So on and so forth.

"My butler's preparing my workplace in the lower hives, and of course not, you're an adult. But you must admit you're unused to life at, ah… 'dirtside'. In my absence, battle-brother Jelavich will escort you."

"Great. I feel his presence purifying."

Agnus playfully pretended to look hurt, "as opposed to mine?"

"Hmph. I suffer your presence."

"Couldn't that be construed as sacrilege? I'm an inquisitor, after all."

"Obviously the Inquisition's standards have fallen of late," Sephilia said, turning her back on him.

"I make up for it in other places, I'd like to think. Bed, for starters. Above you for another. Below you, behind you, in front of you-"

"Don't say such uncouth things!" Sephilia blushed, looking around to see if anyone had heard it.

"Uh… inquisitor?"

"Kya! How long have you been there?" Sephilia shrieked.

A veritable army of servants stood at the entrance, having followed them in. Sephilia didn't notice of course, peripheral vision not being a necessity in her line of work.

It was very much a deeply ingrained, inseparable, and necessary part in Agnus's line of work.

"Yes?" Agnus answered the wizened old butler in the immaculate black uniform.

"The governor himself has ordered us to serve your every need, inquisitor. You have but to call, or signal us by any means you see fit."

"I see. This is rogue trader Sephilia Fairchild, and you are to offer her the same hospitality and service you were ordered to offer me. Dismissed."

The servants bowed, and retreated to do whatever servants do on this hive world.

"Idiot! Tell me when people are around!"

Agnus dodged. "Ah, I couldn't see them either, I swear on the Emperor's name."

"You don't get to say his name!"

"Er… I'm an inquisitor, it's kind of in the job description."

"… Just go to the lower hives, shoo. You're embarrassing me."

"Eh? I'm only going there for the nights. I'll stay here most of the time."

"Huh? Isn't the banquet tonight?"

Agnus chuckled nervously, "Heh heh… about that… hypothetically, theoretically, how angry would you be if I told you that it's in about a week?"

Sephilia looked down at her right hand, which was holding Agnus's left, the normal hand.

She grinned.

"_Shit!_" Agnus thought, even as his hand rose and Sephilia's teeth came biting down. "Sephilia that hurts! Ow! I'm so sorry owww!"

"Serves you right. Pervert. Skirt-chaser. Liar," Sephilia mumbled.

With a grunt of exertion, Agnus picked her up with his bionic arm and started walking.

"Huh? Where're you going? Let go!"

"Why, I think it'd be indecent to just ravish a Lady in the living room where anyone can see, don't you?" Agnus said through gritted teeth, his left hand seriously starting to hurt. "I'll have to punish you. Really, biting an inquisitor."

"What? So you really did just bring me here to take advantage of me!"

"Of course not. I took the trouble of brining you here because I love you, and the hospitality of a governor is a nice thing that I want my soul-mate to enjoy."

"Agnus… stop saying embarrassing things like that," Sephilia let go, and turned her head away in shame.

"Of course, I thought that trying to make babies with you would relieve the stress from my work, too! Hop out of it! Your breasts keep my morale high!"

"Wait, are you serious? You can't just strip me whenever you want! Ask permission first!"

"Don't you want me to do my job properly? Just stand still for a moment! Think of it as performing a duty for the Emperor!"

* * *

><p>The lower hive was a sprawling mess of slums, the destitute, and the criminal. Agnus despised the all of it, and the lattermost was only tolerated as a matter of professional interest.<p>

But some parts of it were nice. Usually the parts that he ruled. Especially the parts that he ruled that he had recently acquired. Even better if the streets ran with blood from the idiots who refused to bow to his aggressive takeover

Agnus knew that he didn't show it much, but he was obsessed with power.

"Hyde Perrott," Alice muttered. "The lowest of the low small-timers I've ever met in my life. I thought I was working for the Inquisition, but no. I have to help a petty criminal."

"Stop complaining, you did well," Agnus said, finishing up the papers he was reading. "Didn't I teach you anything in the last couple of decades? Men are often most open in bed. Control of the sex industry is an excellent first step to making, ah… mergers and acquisitions based on, ah… insider information."

"That they are. How did you find him, the usual?" Dervis asked.

"The local Arbites were very helpful."

"Task completed, inquisitor," Wyrie said.

"Gather up, everybody! Recaff and doughnuts!"

Agnus's henchmen started shuffling towards him at the first phrase, they started warping space and time when they heard the second phrase.

"Where're the doughnuts?" Uran scowled, looking at the small pastries on the table suspiciously.

"Let's just say from now on that doughnuts means some kind of food, shall we?" Agnus rolled his eyes. "Do this job properly and I'll get you shark's fin."

"Ah, that's acceptable," Uran shrugged, and stopped cycling the autocannon built into his exoskeleton.

"Good, good… as you've probably guessed, I've used my inquisitorial authority to coopt the other players of this hive's, ah… oldest human profession, shall we say. Now that the joygirls are on our side, it's time to subdue the drug trade."

"This midget is the major player of this hive's drug trade?" Dervis looked at his dataslate skeptically.

"Oi!" Uran glared.

"Apparently. This one's united all of the cartels in his business through the usual means," Agnus chuckled. "He'll probably never condone anyone taking over his business. His second-in-command, though, is nice and subservient. He'll make a good overseer of my business interests in this hive. Any comments, Miss, err… Krystal?"

"A good plan, inquisitor," the hostess of one the bordello said. Agnus allowed her to live because she was a rich font of local criminal knowledge, and she was absolutely terrified of him. Well, his rosette anyways. "These scum are all addicted to two things, some sort of drug and cunts."

"Uh… aren't you a lower hive scum?" Alice stated the obvious, for which Agnus would have to punish her later.

The hostess bristled. "I run a proper bordello I do!"

"She's addicted to three substances, inquisitor. Analysis reveals one likely STD. Would you like to know which?" Wyrie said.

One of these days, Agnus swore he'd just shoot the part of his cog head that governed the humor programs.

"That will not be necessary. As long as she delivers results, I'll feed whatever habit she has."

"Thank you, inquisitor."

"Try not to outlive your usefulness, madam. What can you tell me about this petty drug dealer?"

"He has many guards. It'll be difficult to kill him overtly."

Agnus smirked. The woman had no idea about the kind of overt power he wielded in the Imperium. He started to laugh, though he didn't mean to.

"I have fifty angels of death with me on the planet. Do you think that'll be enough?"

"Astartes?" the woman shrank.

"Little girl, I'm an inquisitor. I'm not sure you quite get what that means. I am a daemon hunter. I can command all imperial forces to my bidding if I need to. I can consign entire worlds to death, by destroying all life or disrupting the tectonic plates. With good cause, I can even execute one of the High Lords of Terra. You think I can't take out one drug lord? You think I can't take over a hive? Clearly you haven't been educated well. I was serious about what I offered. You will be useful, and prosper. Or you will be useless, and become a corpse, serf, or servitor. This is the offer – no, decree, of the Inquisition."

* * *

><p>Inquisitor Khyas of the Ordo Hereticus joined Agnus on one of the Grey Knights' Thunderhawks.<p>

"It's been ten days already, hmm?"

"Inquisitor Khyas, you look well. How was business?"

"Oh the usual. I love the smell of promethium and burning heretics in the morning. Yours?"

"Ha ha ha. So far, this hive's criminals are under Inquisition control. They're working to bring the other hives' criminal elements into the fold. Once you get the momentum going, these kinds of things are self-pereptuating. Still, there's no sign of the cultists who want to resurrect that Extremis Diabolis. Might be in the other hives. We have fifty Grey Knights so there shouldn't be a problem even if it is summoned, though."

"Sounds good. Although I'm a little surprised the summoning of a Daemon Prince would be undone so easily."

"The trick is to catch them when they're marshaling their forces. Not at full power when they rematerialize you see."

"Sounds a lot easier than my job," Khyas sighed. "Need to catalogue them, take the witches back to the Black Ships, make sure they get to Terra, consumed by the Emperor."

"Then again, we need to banish the same daemons every few centuries."

"Yeah… but it usually becomes a job for the next generation."

"Damn it! Stop revealing my Ordo's most important secret!"

"… Are you sure you're inquisitors? I'd like to check your rosettes again," Sephilia said, appalled by the casual shop-talk.

"… What's she doing here?"

"She's my 'escort', you know which kind, to the-"

Agnus expertly evaded the punch that was flying at him, which ended up in Khyas's nose.

"… Idiot, I hit a real inquisitor!"

"And I'm not an inquisitor? You aren't in grade school anymore! You can't just resort to violence whenever you feel like it!" Agnus yelled back.

Sephilia's expression froze, and then her head was lowered to conceal her face from Agnus. He heard a sniffle.

The rogue trader grinned in triumph as she lashed out with her other hand to slap Agnus. He always hesitated a bit when he thought he had pushed her too far.

"Emperor-damn! Oww!"

A Sororitas sitting nearby started, "Inquisitor, I insist that you, of all people, remember the decorum expected of the Emperor's-"

"By the Emperor, is this entire galaxy full of Emperor-bothering women?"

"My thoughts exactly," Khyas sighed, nodding in agreement.

"What are you talking about? You're inquisitors for the Emperor's sake! Not just poor rambling sheep of the Imperium but inquisitors! Keepers of our faith!" all the women in the vicinity screamed.

"… Obviously, they have some seriously skewed views about inquisitors," Khyas said. Agnus nodded sagely.

"We'll pay the due lip service required of our station in life, but you can't possibly ask us to believe in the divinity of someone-"

"But you don't even pay lip service!" Sephilia said in a flurry of blows. "Heretic!"

"Well, we can find out simply enough. Agnus Crowfeather, do you believe that the Emperor is our savior? The exemplar of humanity?" Khyas asked.

"Of course I do. But I doubt he's a god. Ask if any of the Grey Knights believe in the Emperor as a god, though, and you'll find very few who do."

"Is that true?" Sephilia whirled on Jelavich. Though, she seemed to have realized the futility of hitting a gene-enhanced superhuman.

"… We believe the Emperor is the finest humanity can aspire to and that he is our savior. But few of us believe in the divinity of one who has been defeated in combat."

"That doesn't mean you should follow the religious doctrine of gene-bred barbarian tribes good for nothing but delivering the Emperor's wrath to humanity's enemies!" a Canoness on the opposite side of the Thunderhawk joined in.

"By the powers bequeathed to me by His Majesty's Inquisition, I order you to cease talking about this subject," Khyas said, clutching his aching head.

"Seconded," Agnus groaned. "And you, dear, I'll have to, ah… how shall I put this… punish you later."

"Don't say things like that! People could misunderstand!"

"I was considering five hours of penitence or something, but if you'd prefer something harder, longer, and thicker…."

"Shut up! You perverted middle-aged man!"

"Wait, does that mean you're a middle-aged-" Agnus ducked in time, and the slap caught Khyas instead.

"Gah!"

"Oops, I'm so sorry inquisitor!" Sephilia aimed another punch at Agnus and ended up hitting Khyas again.

"By the Emperor, woman!" Khyas struck back. Agnus had not anticipated this and lifted his head, so he got hit instead.

"Ow! Stupid witch-hunter, you wanna die?" Agnus stomped down with his left foot, currently shoed with the height of fashion, metal studs. Khyas hopped on his good foot, howling in pain. Sephilia took advantage of the moment to stand on the seat and stomp down on Agnus.

"… Is it just me, or is the Imperium doomed?" Uran said.

"I propose 71.09% chance of it collapsing within two thousand years," Wyrie sighed.

"How did we ever end up with these idiots?" a Sororitas sympathized.

"… You know things are messed up when a Sororitas sympathizes with an abhuman and a cogboy," Jelavich buried his face in his palms.

"Wait a minute… we're inquisitors! Why're we hitting each other when we have easier targets?"Agnus said.

Both inquisitors turned to look at their henchmen, and slowly drew their whips, standard equipment for intimidating the general imperial populace. Their henchmen flinched and, just as slowly, edged away from the madmen gifted with the power to end worlds, just in case their flight awakened their reflexes as predators.

* * *

><p>"So… how do you want to do this?" Khyas asked.<p>

"I'll be reasonable inquisitor, you'll be Emperor-awful inquisitor. You Hereticus S&M freaks enjoy that, right?"

"Ha ha. You Malleus type warp-addled nutjobs get something right every once in a while."

Agnus chuckled, "You know, I'm glad they paired me up with someone who's not so damned uptight for my first assignment."

"Likewise. Amasec afterwards in my quarters?"

"… Are you sure we'll survive their groveling, sniveling, and brown-nosing?"

"Planetary nobility aren't always like that."

Agnus raised an eyebrow.

"… You're right, we're inquisitors," Khyas frowned. "We're doomed, aren't we?"

"If we survive, my friend, amasec in your quarters with a few, ah… entertainers? If not… the Emperor protects."

"The Emperor protects the faithful, the faithful."

"… Then we're really screwed, aren't we?"

The hive's version of pomp and circumstances with a side of red carpet finally finished, and the Inquisition made its presence known.

The inquisitors were mildly surprised at the presence of Lord Militant Noriega, an aging 'easterner' of moderate stature and greying hair. Both of his legs were bionics and he was missing an ear. Obviously, he had seen combat. Agnus respected his having survived all of those events, while he also thought it stupid that anyone would willingly put himself in such situations.

"Inquisitors," Lord Militant Noriega, the planetary governor, and all of their lackeys bowed.

Agnus smirked. Of course they bowed. Of course they kneeled. Half a company of Grey Knights and near three hundred nuns with guns arrived as part of their escorts.

"Rise. The only one man kneels to is the Emperor," Agnus said.

"Praised be His name," Khyas echoed.

Sephilia's eyebrows twitched at the sudden piety of the two inquisitors.

"Inquisitors, inquisitors! Our world is blessed by your very presence!" the governor, a portly man with a friendly face, said. Agnus didn't feel the urge to punch his neck, so he supposed the governor was one of the better ones.

"Of course it is," Agnus nodded, acknowledging that obvious a fact. "But we have been here a while and we have business to attend to on the morrow. Let's go eat!"

"Wait, shouldn't we make observances to the Emperor first?" Khyas asked. "To thank him for the successful arrival on this planet?"

"Inquisitor Khyas," Agnus said reproaching. "I'm certain all of these noble personages have important business to attend to in the name of the Imperium, don't you? As much as I personally enjoy your two hour prayer sessions-"

"Ah yes, yes!" the planetary governor said, completely failing to disguise the desperation in his voice. "The food will get cold soon, my Lords."

Agnus chuckled to see Sephilia's eyes twinkle at the sound of food. She blushed when she realized he saw her. Agnus took advantage of the situation to lower the position of his left hand. Sephilia couldn't react without being blatantly obvious.

The inquisitors were granted seats of honor.

"Bah, I'm getting impatient with these ceremonies," Khyas spat.

"Now, now, I'm sure these are the, err… best that the locals could come up with," Agnus pretended to placate him. "Might as well take pleasure in it. Isn't that right, darling?"

Sephilia thought she was going to kill him for a moment when Agnus actively groped one of her breasts but she knew that to do so would undermine Agnus's position as inquisitor. No matter how much she might protest at being harassed, she had to keep up the appearances of Agnus's authority for the sake of the planet, Agnus, and the Imperium. If there was one thing Sephilia would die before betraying, it was her faith in the Emperor.

"Of course, dear," her smile conveyed all of her true emotions to Agnus.

"So, Lord Militant Noriega. There's still been no word from Hive Nefra?" Khyas said.

"No, inquisitor."

"And no news from the two inquisitors who were sent to this planet as part of the initial reinforcements?"

"They're still missing, inquisitor."

"… What're we talking about?" Agnus said.

"… For the Emperor's sake, inquisitor, read your frakking briefings!" Khyas screamed.

"I did! I did! All the parts related to daemons, regular cultist activities, and ley lines, that is."

"… You mean to tell me, that in reading those specific parts… that you read nothing else?"

Agnus shrugged. "You burn the heretics. I banish the daemons."

"… Inquisitor, there are five hives on this planet. One of them has been out of contact since the end of the civil war."

"… What?" Agnus jumped up.

"There are three hives on this continent, the other two are on the other ones. One of the hives on this continent, Nefra, has not responded to hails since the end of the civil war."

The planetary governor joined in. "Local hails and requests to talk to their original leaders have been denied."

"Why hasn't the Guard done anything about this?"

"We were waiting for the new inquisitors," Noriega said.

"… How did the inquisitors who came before us die?"

"We do not know, inquisitor. They might even be alive."

"… Heresy is your department, but 'friendly fire?'"

"… Now that you mention it," Khyas drew out his bolt pistol. The fifty Astartes and three hundred Sororitas standing at attention leveled their bolters at the natives and the Guard officers.

The door of the Great Hall creaked open and a runner came through, huffing and puffing his way towards the governor.

He stopped when he noticed that he had at least twenty bolters trained on him.

"Come, what is it? By the looks of it, you have news to share," Agnus gave him his most reassuring smile.

"Hive Meerlom is gone! We're under attack!"

Dead silence reigned in the Great Hall.

The inevitable pandemonium of panicking nobles ensued.

"Silence!" Jelavich screamed, shooting at the air with his bolter for emphasis.

The governor was almost crying at the sight of his damaged ceilings, which Agnus now realized was filled with expensive and surprisingly good artistry.

"… Let's start with what you mean by 'gone', why don't we?" Khyas said.

"The energy signatures are consistent with main plasma reactor explosion, Lord… er…."

"I am no Lord. I am an inquisitor. Oh, and this is my colleague."

The messenger's eyes widened, and he gulped.

"I couldn't care less about this hive Meerlom. What do you mean we're under attack. We? This very hive?" Agnus shouted.

"Cultist uprisings! Some of them are trying to breach our main power plants, inquisitor! Also, the Nefra scum are crossing the border and have fired their ballistic missiles at our forward redoubts!"

Agnus's mind went blank for a moment. What was promising to be a cushy job on a tightly held imperial world was promising to be a living nightmare. Only one thing could make the situation worse, and that was if the Daemon Prince was going to be summoned here.

"All Sororitas, to the power plants!" Khyas said.

"Grey Knights, stay here. We need to protect this hive's leadership. Governor, muster the PDF and warn the other hives. Alert the SDF and tell them to get out of the range of orbital defenses," Agnus said, calming himself. He reminded himself that he had been in a similar situation before, and recalled how Merigo had reacted. "General Noriega, I hope your regiments are ready to fight?"

"The Gayan 23rd, the Kriegan 11th, and the Vostroyan 35th, 87th, and 102nd stand ready, inquisitor," the Lord Militant replied.

"Good job, a moment please."

Pandemonium restarted with a vengeance as the hive's leadership scrambled to find troops, look for a way out, and send other people to die for them.

"Sebastian, this is Agnus."

"Ah, young master. There seems to be-"

"No time to explain, Sebastian! All elements of the underhive are to assemble for battle. We march against the cultists. 10,000 imperial credits to the man who draws first blood. All rationing of wages, amasec, drugs, and cunts will be withheld until the cultists are defeated."

"… That'll certainly get their fighting spirits up."

"That's what I'm counting on. Attend me at my quarters in the upper hive later, Sebastian."

"Yes, my Lord."

At Agnus's signal, Jelavich fractured the ceiling's artwork again. The hall was silent once more.

"You're the leaders of this hive, settle down so we can hear what's going on! Messenger, situation report!" Khyas said menacingly, reminding the assembled imperials of the presence of a clearly insane inquisitor and the presence of a seemingly more reasonable one.

"Chain reactor explosions and promethium pipes, inquisitor. That's our final analysis. Other hives have repelled the infiltrators and are dealing with the cultists. We're doing the same."

"… It'll be alright, inquisitor, we defeated those Nefra scum two hundred years or so ago, and we'll do it again!" the governor shouted.

Agnus was glad he sounded very confident but saw Khyas shaking his head. Agnus nudged him and sent his head in his direction.

"You didn't read the briefings, did you?" Khyas whispered accusatorily.

"I told you, me daemon-hunter, you heretic-hunter," Agnus shot back.

The inquisitors were distracted by the huge screen and projector a few servants brought out.

"This holovid provides a good summary of the last war, inquisitors!" the governor said. "You'll see how our ancestors butchered theirs!"

The Guard commanders were also shaking their heads and burying their faces in their palms. A terrible feeling crept up Agnus's back, and it was not from the strain of entertaining Sephilia.

The first ten minutes of the holovid made the reason quite clear. The hive's rulers looked on proudly while Agnus almost vomited in disgust and covered Sephilia's eyes. She was considerably more interested in the food, anyways.

It was a war out of the a chapter of an ancient Terran history book. It was barbaric, primitive, but no less vicious and bloody for it. It was war that was reminiscent of wars that were fought some thirty five millennia ago.

Soldiers died in droves in the trenches, charging blindly into automatic weapons fire. Agnus thought it might be a penal legion, but it was apparently the elite.

More soldiers died of disease, cold, and starvation than they did from enemy weapons-fire.

Half an hour passed before Agnus could stop himself from staring in horror. He took out his bolter and opened fire on the projector.

"… If this war goes like that, I promise you that I will kill you all myself," Khyas said.

"Your ancestors were certainly brave, but… that is not the way the Imperium wages war. Have you seen nothing during the civil war?" Agnus said.

The governor flinched, "well, as the primary hive of the planet, we did send some-"

"It means he sent token reinforcements," Khyas snarled. "They don't know how vicious Chaos is."

Agnus thought for a moment, and decided quick and decisive action might just save the planet from falling into Chaos hands. "… All military matters will be subordinated to the authority of Lord Militant Noriega, effective immediately. All officers of the PDF who are there because of nepotism will resign, immediately. All nobles will offer their house troops and 80% of their savings, immediately. The Guard will begin training the PDF until Chaos forces reach us in…?"

"About two weeks, inquisitor," the messenger said.

"Good, they can learn the basics of basics at least. All other imperial hives will send reinforcements and funds, immediately. Oh, and while I was here I coopted the underhive. The PDF will be ordered not to shoot at known criminals. That is all. Chop chop, get to work!"

The nobles scrambled about again, finding their henchmen and undoubtedly wondering how much of their savings they could hide from the two inquisitors. Of course, that might just have been Agnus's cynicism talking. Agnus knew that at least half the nobles were, on average, as noble as Sephilia was: beholden to their duty and very serious about their jobs, ready to sacrifice their limbs for the Emperor. That was more than that which could be said about Agnus, of course.

Agnus turned around and chuckled at the sight of Sephilia taking advantage of the annoying commotion to carve herself the choicest of meats and pick up the sweetest of desserts.

"Sephilia," Agnus whispered.

"It's so loud," Sephilia complained. "What got them so riled up?"

Agnus hadn't really expected Sephilia to pay attention, but she seemed to be even more oblivious than usual. "We're under attack. Chaos is here. I want you to join the imperial fleet, now."

Sephilia eyed the food, and Agnus caught the attention of a few servants who packed up as much as they could to take back to the _Daedalus_.

"Will you be alright?" Sephilia asked.

"I just returned to you. It'd be most discourteous of me to leave you so soon. Don't worry. I've fought in land wars before."

"… Be careful. The _Daedalus _will provide whatever orbital support it can."

"Of course it will. Stay safe."

* * *

><p>I thought this would be a heavy action chapter, but I forgot a few things. The next chapter, due in about two weeks, will start the real war for the hive.<p>

Less Cain and more Ghosts, I think, is the mood of the next chapter.

Internship's a lot more time-consuming than I expected, sixteen hour work days. Apologies for the delay.


	5. The Defense of Aether Hive

Twelve days passed since the cultists' surprise attack on the loyalist hives.

The other hives swore to send reinforcements, but they were separated by a continent and an ocean. Furthermore, they had borne the brunt of the war against the Archenemy in the previous war. They did not have the time to recover yet.

Agnus prayed that the Chaos forces just come on quickly so he could catch the last shuttle out and get back to the _Daedalus_. He missed the bed in the captain's quarters dearly.

For now, though, he had to pretend to appear interested in the discussion that was taking place in the strategium of the hive. One never knew with those Hereticus types. They might squeal on you for laziness, incompetence, or apathy and Agnus knew he didn't have the career to shrug off such an accusation so easily. Khyas was the more genial type, probably due to his youth, but still he was a man of Hereticus.

At least the Grey Knights couldn't sense the presence of the Daemon Prince who was supposed to be summoned. That was something. Agnus didn't favor fighting daemon princes. Or minor daemons for that matter, but they knew well enough to run away from him and he from them.

The Colonel Whatshisface next to him slammed the table with his fist, startling Agnus out of his reverie and master-crafted boredom concealment. He had no idea why he was here. He wasn't a commander of soldiers; he was a dedicated anti-daemon weapons platform in an admittedly fragile, and cowardly, but useful shell.

"Something to do with the distribution of squad heavy weapons," Alice whispered.

Agnus groaned. He had revealed that he had coopted the hive's underworld, and now they all expected him to turn up illicit goods out of nowhere. He wondered when they'd ever realize he was the furthest thing from a psyker on the Emperor-damned gakhole of a planet.

"Inquisitor, could you-" a noble started to ask.

"I'm pretty sure that was it, but if there's more… I'll see what I can do about it. Didn't another shipment arrive from whatsit hive to our south?"

"Not nearly enough for the PDF and the Guard to share, inquisitor," one of Lord Militant Noriega's aides said.

He couldn't remember his name either, but then one usually makes it a point not to reveal his name to an inquisitor. They were more afraid of Khyas than they were of him, but an inquisitor was an inquisitor.

And the Ordo Malleus did have a certain reputation as an asylum for madmen and madwomen. Agnus agreed. There was something seriously wrong with the brains of people who would willingly seek out daemons. Witches he could understand. Xenos he could understand. Daemons he could not.

If Alice had not stayed on the ground, Agnus was certain he would've gone mad just thinking about the sheer amount of misfortune it took to get a full-blown Chaos uprising on your first Emperor-damned assignment.

When he was free, Agnus told Alice to change form into Sephilia. That was not cheating. Well, he thought it shouldn't be construed as cheating anyways. He had the prostitution ring of an entire hive under his thumb, and Sephilia ought to be grateful that he had not taken advantage of that situation.

Not that he'd ever tell her.

* * *

><p>"They're here!" one of the Guard officers shouted.<p>

"Are you sure the void shields will hold?" Khyas said skeptically.

"Of course, inquisitor. Our void shields have held for millennia! It will take Titans to-"

Agnus's eyes twitched as though they were on fire as said void shields vanished.

"What the hell just happened?" Lord Militant Noriega snarled.

"I-it's a daemon-program!" one of the PDF generals said. "Our techpriests say it's the product of corrupted techpriests!"

"General, were you in charge of the security of the void-shields?" Khyas said, the monotone scaring the general half to death.

"Yes, inquisitor, I beg your-"

No one found out what he was going to beg for. His head disappeared in a shower of blood and gore.

The Celestian who shot him lowered her pistol. "The Inquisition of His Divine Majesty does not tolerate failure."

"You," Khyas barked at the dead general's second. "Learn from your predecessor's example and get the void shields back up!"

"Y-yes, inquisitor!"

"Uh… people. Hey!" Agnus said in alarm.

"What?" Khyas said.

"Unless I'm mistaken, our gates just fell."

Khyas's bolter rose reflexively to aim at the hive's Master of the Gates. The bolter fired.

"What happened?" the planetary governor shouted in dismay. For the life of him Agnus could not be bothered to remember the name of a man likely to get shot for incompetence.

"It has to be the cultists… they must have set charges to the hinges of the gates while we were busy driving them away from the main reactor cores," Khyas said.

"There's nothing for it then. All Grey Knights, to the gates!" Agnus said.

"Finally, some action," Alice purred.

"It's a good day to purge the heretic," Uran agreed, the servos in his exoskeleton whirring.

* * *

><p>Chaos forces poured through the gate, headed by variants of the Leman Russ main battle tanks. The lone Vostroyan Shadowsword-class super-heavy did not have the rate of fire to stop them, though a good number of the Archenemies were slaughtered with each searing blast of its main gun.<p>

"Emperor damn…" Agnus muttered, taking out another one of their officers. Despite the killzone established by Lord Militant Noriega, Archenemy daemons and armor lasted long enough to establish a beachhead.

"Traitor astartes," Alice warned. Agnus saw that Legion XVII made its presence known. Word Bearers were tricky to handle, since one did not know what kind of daemons they'd rely on. It was easier when facing, for instance, the Death Guard or the Emperor's Children.

Not that facing the traitor Legions was ever easy.

"Lord Militant Noriega, confirmed sighting of the XVII Legion. I repeat, confirmed presence of traitor astartes. Daemons from across the spectrum."

"Understood, Inquisitor. Directing all field-pieces at enemy beachhead. Entrenched Grand Cannon batteries firing at enemy armor. Acceptable kill-death ratio. Acceptable losses."

"Grey Knights engaging Archenemy daemons. Agnus out."

There was an ominous howl from a loudspeaker, and a captured Baneblade entered the hive.

"Cluster-frak!" the squat said.

"Enemy super-heavy, Baneblade-class. All Grey Knights, retreat. Just fend off the daemons."

"Retreat?" Khyas growled. "Super-heavy or not, that thing's going down! Celestians, forward!"

"This is Inquisitor Agnus calling Vostroyan Winter, engage enemy Baneblade at a distance, do not get in range of its Demolisher cannon. All Grand Cannon emplacements, fire at the super-heavy." Agnus grunted at the recoil of his sniper rifle.

"Nice shot. Traitor astartes down. Enemy Obliterator squad assembling to the left, 7'o clock, personal teleporter signatures," Alice said, pumping round after round into said Obliterators. "Priority targeting, Obliterators gunning for friendly Leman Russ. Friendly Leman Russ retreating, heavily damaged."

"Inquisitor, we're engaging Archenemy forward elements!" a nearby PDF lieutenant shouted over the vox, only to be killed a second later.

Heavy firefights ensued between the imperial and Chaos forces.

Agnus spouted profanity as he noted that it took less than five minutes for them to breach the first cutline. He had no doubt that their forward elements also consisted of specialist xenos and Chaos infiltrators.

He had to retreat soon if he wanted to live.

Uran joined the Guard forces defending the building, his participation marked by the distinct sound of his exoskeleton-mounted heavy bolter and lascannon. Wyrie, who despised fighting in person, directed his combat servitors to the fore. Dervis led the handpicked elite fighting elements of the lower hive gangs in flushing out Archenemy infiltrators.

Agnus thought that he was forgetting something. He realized what it was when the nuns with guns started peppering the Archenemy Baneblade.

Like most Hereticus inquisitors, Khyas seemed to be a little too eager to lock horns with the enemy.

"Fething idiot cunts are attacking the Baneblade straight on!" Dervis said, summarizing Agnus's own opinions succinctly.

"We won't let their sacrifices count for nothing." Agnus snarled. Miraculously, only seven of the sisters were dead so far. "Wyrie, take the fething super-heavy."

"Copy," the tech-priest said.

Wyrie hacked one of his combat servitors open with his Mechanicus staff-axe. Out came a dozen servitors: ratlings converted into servitors. It seemed that Wyrie took Agnus's comment about converting midgets into self-destructing drones seriously.

Every single one of them was rigged with heavy remote-controlled plasma or melta based explosives.

At a command signal, in binary no doubt, all twelve servitors charged at the Baneblade from the left and the rear.

"Covering fire!" Agnus yelled. A torrent of assorted weapons-fire struck at the supporting infantry elements of the Baneblade.

Meanwhile, the ratlings zigzagged at the Baneblade in a mad rush to attach themselves to it before its heavy bolters were brought to bear.

Five of them made it, and the plasma bombs detonated to burn a gaping hole in the side.

A Celestian charged into that hole before Agnus had a chance to say anything. The thump of massed grenades and splattering of blood indicated that she had also self-destructed. The Celestian faced certain death in the resultant chain-explosion in the Baneblade's munitions center.

Agnus continued to direct the fire-support in the sector. It wasn't his fault that two dozen sisters lay dead. It was a shame that he had two dozen less power-armored fanatic to keep between traitor astartes and himself, though. "All field-pieces, the Baneblade is no more, concentrate fire on the gate. Vostroyan Winter, keep sniping enemy armor."

"Inquisitor!" a sergeant screamed, pointing at the air.

Agnus barely had time to get off a round, the lucky shot detonating the jump pack of one of the raptors.

"Fall back! First line's compromised, fall back!" Agnus screamed in the vox. Then, he ran, never looking back.

Traitor astartes armed with plasma pistols and chainswords armed with jetpacks tended to have a detrimental effect on his health.

Alice was first to make it back to the command salamander, of course. She was Callidus for a reason. Then Wyrie made it back and started chanting the ritual mumbo-jumbo to start the Emperor-damned thing. Agnus swore that one of these days that he was going to just interrupt him and yell 'zero' and 'one' in a quick succession. As far as he and the Inquisition could tell, that was what binary was supposed to be.

Agnus got on the heavy bolter and started spewing out high caliber mass-reactive rounds towards the general vicinity of everyone who had a vested interest in killing him and eating him alive.

"Emperor-damn, Uran, haul your fat arse! You lot, give him covering fire!"

The lower hive gangers did as they were told, knowing that the inquisitor would kill them if they disobeyed and that the Chaos scum would if he didn't. Agnus could tell that the arrangement would have to play out a little longer than a week for them to start trusting him.

Huffing and puffing, Uran made it through the ramp. "Alice, we need to get the hell out of here!"

"Roger that!" Agnus braced himself for the crazy assassin to step on the accelerator. Apparently speed limits and breaks just befuddled assassins and no one in the Emperor-damned galaxy could teach them those fundamental aspects of human life.

The vox crackled, and Agnus could hear . "Inquisitor, all Grey Knights are pulling away. I hitched a ride on a PDF chimera. Would you believe that this rat of a driver believes in obeying traffic laws in war?"

"The fething assassin's driving! There has to be some form of wartime driving that doesn't involve extremes!" Agnus yelled. "Get back to the second line. Oh, and introduce our friends to the present we left behind."

All the buildings around the gatehouse exploded, courtesy of kilotons of mining charges that Inquisitor Khyas commandeered after shooting the mining tycoon who owned them in the face: and the crotch, for good measure.

Ulan guffawed at the sight. Alice started giggling madly.

"This is inquisitor Agnus to all imperials. Yes, that was our doing." Agnus smiled as the Guard and the PDF cheered in what was a much needed morale boost.

* * *

><p>Two hours later, despite the reprieve given by the destruction of all available cover between the gates and the second line, the second line was crumbling, and it was crumbling too quickly.<p>

"We need to fall back to a viable defensive line, inquisitor," a Vostroyan lieutenant said.

"We'll die if we don't get a distraction!" Agnus shouted, scrambling left and right to fend off the encroaching daemons.

"About that distraction, inquisitor, there are some ogryns attached to our regiment!" a private said, in the middle of pissing his pants.

"Why didn't you say so?"

"The Commissar in charge of them is dead!" the private yelled back.

"The Commissar is dead?" Archenemy heavy bolter rounds massacred the mortar team next to them, and Agnus kept his head down.

"Yes, inquisitor!"

"Clusterfeth… I didn't want to do this…" Agnus turned to the vox operator. "give me the vox, damn it."

"Er… if I may ask, if you can, why not?" Dervis said.

Agnus frowned. "I feel so guilty about it afterwards. It's like getting kids, thick-skulled and four times as big as an adult male kids, to go step on a landmine."

"We're patched through, inquisitor," the vox-operator said. "His name is Gargg, I think."

"Hello, Gargg, is that you?"

"… Who you? Where commissar?"

"I inquisitor Agnus, Emperor's closest servant. Here to tell you, Gargg, that Emperor pleased."

"Weally?" Agnus could just picture the grin appearing on the dumb face.

"Yes, really. He give you more food." Agnus turned to Dervis, "Green smoke grenade, right in the middle of them."

"What food?" Gargg sounded just a tad doubtful. Undoubtedly this was a trick that many, perhaps too many, a handler had used before.

Agnus thanked the Emperor that it was a trick that would work again until ogryns evolved enough to count to five: a miracle if there ever was one.

"Hundreds of hundreds of tons of wild grox meat, juicy, raw, there for the taking… but Archenemy got to it first."

"Archenemey!" Gargg bellowed in fury.

"Gargg, you see green smoke?"

"Green smoke!" The ogryn was very, very angry.

"Archenemy take grox there. You go get. Kill everything on way."

"Move out! Green smoke! Grox meat! Kill Archenemy!" the bone'ead yelled at his squad.

"… Out of curiosity-" the vox operator began.

"I'll tell them the Archenemy ate it all, but that they can earn it again if they go to another green smoke and kill everything in the way," Agnus shrugged. "Always works."

Sure enough, the Archenemy offensive ground to a halt as eight ogryns came down bearing the righteous fury of the Emperor, custom-made shotgun-clubs, and the animalistic, and in Agnus's opinion even more primordial than the Chaos gods, craze for meat.

"Hurry, set up the heavy weapons! Covering fire for the ogryns, fire, fire, fire!" Agnus screamed.

One of the regimental Leman Russ tanks, _Vostroyan Vodka_, lent its firepower to the fight, too. The cultists realized too late that in their zeal they had strayed too far from their own armor and support.

The resulting massacre had Dervis laughing like a maniac and Alice giggling with each kill.

The ogryns bore the brunt of whatever organized resistance the Archenemy could come up with. The cultists found that there was a reason the Imperium used them as shock troops.

Lasbolts didn't do shit to them, and the cultists didn't have the heavier support weapons with them. Agnus saw two go down to suicide bombers, but that was about it. The suicide bombers managed to kill some thirty times as many cultists as they did ogryns.

Agnus doubted that the cultists could pass _Standardized Imperial Proficiency Test in Mathematics: Grade 1_. But then, looking at the ogryns, he thought that idiocy was a good thing in the Imperium.

"Into them!" a crazed Hellhound driver bulldozed what was beginning to resemble an organize firing line and burned those that didn't run.

"They're breaking!"

The Hellhound blew up sky-high and showered the Guard with debris.

Three Word Bearer Predator tanks emerged from the smoke.

"Clusterfeth! Sound the retreat! Anyone with anti-armor weapons, slow them down, take out their treads! Gargg, run at big tower."

"Grox meat, sa close!" the fethtarded abhuman gorilla replied.

"More, lots more, at the big tower. God-Emperor reward!"

"Okay!"

"Alice, step on it!" Agnus screamed as lascannon rounds started lighting up the Sentinels uncomfortably close to him.

"Roger that!"

Agnus got back on the regimental vox. "This is inquisitor Agnus. I need fire support at sector b-9! Earthshakers at least, no light stuff!"

"We've only got Medusas available at the moment inquisitor. V?" the gunnery lieutenant replied.

"B as in the bitch who bore you, idiot!" Agnus screamed.

"Firing solution confirmed, inquisitor. Please clear the-"

"You'll take them out now or we'll die anyways, fire!"

Agnus opened the hatch, swung the heavy bolter around, and blazed away at the pursuing Archenemy light infantry elements.

One of the Predators turned its turret, and Agnus did not like where it was pointing.

With a thunderous shriek, high explosive rounds leveled the buildings around which Agnus's salamander was speeding through.

Then, they proceeded to level the entirety of sector b-9. Agnus kept his fingers in his ears, but watched with satisfaction as the armored spearhead of the Archenemies was flattened by the heavy shells lobbed at them by the Medusas.

The level of destruction was appalling, but did have an unintended side-effect. It robbed advancing Chaos forces of viable cover. Imperial forces reformed a line at the relatively unharmed buildings, firing out of windows and doors.

"Captain Tacitus, how're we doing?" Agnus voxed.

The leader of the Grey Knights' strike force answered, "Some minor injuries. Troubling news, inquisitor. The traitor astartes we faced are the Word Bearers."

"… I know I don't look it, but I know that much, Captain."

"No, no, you don't understand. The Daemon Prince Farinax was said to have an intimate relationship with the Word Bearers."

"Yes, but their presence does not necessarily guarantee-"

"True, but that the minor daemons of all four Chaos Gods have manifested here, which is one of the places it is possible for Farinax to return; cannot be a coincidence."

"That means the invasion was started to gather sacrifices for the summoning of the actual Daemon Prince," Agnus groaned. "And he's set to be resurrected today!"

"I have sent out astrotelepathic messages to the other Malleus forces hunting for the beast, inquisitor. They will be late, though. Only two are close enough to come within a few weeks."

"By which time, we would have slain the beast or died trying. Impeccable work as always Captain Tacitus. Conserve your men. It wouldn't do to lose even one to a minor daemon when we have a Daemon Prince to kill."

"Yes, inquisitor. Good hunting."

"If you're done chatting we can use some fire-support!" Uran yelled.

"I'm coming!" Agnus yelled back, and set up the tripod for his sniper rifle at a window next to him. "Say, how did you get on that windowsill?"

"Don't ask," Uran warned.

"Jelavich lifted him, like a baby," Alice chuckled, blazing away with a tripod-mounted Brightlance-class anti-tank weapon she had stolen from the Eldar some twelve years ago.

How she recharged that thing was beyond Agnus. How she lugged it around like it weighed nothing even more so.

Uran scowled, "It's not my fault these idiots built the windows in too high."

"No… but it's your fault you're so tiny!" Alice said, and then giggled like a maniac. It was fitting, Agnus supposed. She was a maniac. Still, she was doing a good job killing all the light vehicles that threatened to bring their squad support weapons about on the building. He wasn't about to stop her.

Agnus searched for the enemy's leaders.

The fundamental rule of picking out officers among Chaos forces, as taught to imperial snipers, was to see who had the most lethal-looking weapon. Cultists often pried their weapons off the enemies they had slain. The bigger the weapon, the stronger they were perceived to be. Leaders, therefore, had the biggest weapons short of squad-support weapons.

Like the cultist with an ugly mask on waving about his giant chainsword and ordering his fellow lunatics forward. After Agnus took the shot, he was robbed of the mask.

"Enemy astartes!" a guardsmen cried.

"Frak me twice," Agnus gulped as traitor astartes salamanders unloaded dozens of Word Bearers not twenty yards from him

* * *

><p>Tensions ran high in orbit as the SDF's long range augurs detected signals of translation from the warp. The IFF codes declared them <em>hostiles in extremis<em>, _traitors excommunicatoris_, and _hereticus abomini_.

A small Chaos fleet had come upon them, and the bad news was that the civil war had torn apart most of the hive world's SDF vessels.

The senior Admiral commanding the fleet transporting the Guard regiments had asked the _Daedalus_ for assistance. Sephilia assented.

"Chaos fleet approaching, Captain," an ensign said. Sephilia thought she'd have to tell him later not to state the obvious.

"One minute until they're in range, milady. Frontal lance batteries prepared to fire."

Sephilia was still nervous. Ship on ship action she had often seen, fleet on fleet she had not.

However, she was a daughter of the Fairchild family, serving the Imperial Navy for countless generations. She killed her fear, and forced her voice to be calm. "Enslave the forward lance batteries to me. All pilots, prepare to launch, launching ETA…"

"7.31 minutes, Captain," a techpriest said.

"7 minutes and 17 seconds. Cutting power to all nonessential systems, rerouting to forward shields and lance batteries."

"_Daedalus, _engage designated Chaos targets with the _Secondborrn,_" it was the cool and collected voice of the Navy Admiral Xender, veteran of three Crusades. Sephilia wished she could pull off a voice like that without apparent effort.

"Understood, _Daedalus _out," the hologram disappeared.

"Chaos targets in range! Three frigates and one cruiser!"

"The one with the daemon warped into it," Marie advised. Sephilia prayed feverishly that the _Daedalus _ get first blood. While she may not have as much of a broadside as most ships with her tonnage do, her forward lance batteries were designed to be super-heavy, almost as heavy as those of a battleship, to compensate for the loss of a broadside in favor of cargo-space.

"Firing… direct hit! Turn to present starboard broadside! Patch me through to the _Secondborn_!"

The hologram of the grizzled veteran Captain of the Secondborn appeared. He was what one would consider a typical image of a middle-aged and bitter Vostroyan. "Be quick, Captain!" the Vostroyan snarled. Then, perhaps remembering that she was a rogue trader under the aegis of an Inquisitor, said apologetically "nice shot, by the way, my commendations to your crew. Quite a range on those lance batteries."

"Thank you, Captain. The _Daedalus_ will buy you time with the two frigates on the 'left' while your cruiser wipes out the cruiser and frigate to the 'right.'"

"Are you certain? We have your ship registered as having little more than the combat power of a Lunar class frigate." The Captain's head turned for a moment, yelling "fire, fire, fire!"

Sephilia smiled reassuringly. "I'm a rogue trader, captain. I have a few surprises for the Chaos scum."

"…Permission granted. Good hunting. _Secondborn _out."

The Imperial and the Chaos fleets drifted towards each other. Every minute of waiting was excruciating The tension in the bridge was now a force of nature on its own.

Finally, the traitors were in range.

Sephilia saw that Marie had used the time to line up the starboard broadside to the daemon-infested frigate. "Fire the main guns, all fire to the daemon-frigate," Marie's voice rang over the bridge with authority.

"Firing solution confirmed!"

"Fire!" Marie barked, every bit the veteran XO.

"Firing!"

"Captain Fairchild, sensors indicate the frigate's shields will go down if the broadside connects. Recommending armor piercing torpedoes, rapid-fire pattern, at the now uplinked coordinates," one of the techpriests, a savant named Roanox who had served with Sephilia's second oldest brother until a year ago, said.

To fire the torpedoes so early was a gamble. After all, torpedoes were torpedoes, finite and expensive as hell. They didn't work too well on shields. Even worse, the targeting mechanisms could malfunction and miss entirely. On the one hand, she would waste the torpedoes that might prove crucial in the coming battle. On the other hand, if the gamble worked she would be able to finish the other frigate and help the _Secondborn_ mop up her share.

Sephilia noticed the whole bridge staring at her, and fought down the blush that threatened to creep up her face.

"Fire."

"Torpedoes away! AP rapid-fire pattern!" an ensign shouted in affirmation.

"Daemon-frigate holding course… it's… spitting something?"

The holo popped up in front of the command throne. The frigate was indeed spitting something.

And it was hurling straight at the _Daedalus_.

Sephilia would die before she didn't do everything she could to keep her ship clean of corruption. Even if it meant having to spend two days in standardized docking procedures without the thrusters and the paperwork to go with it.

"Fire emergency docking thrusters, portside."

"Docking's going to be hell after this," an ensign groaned.

"Firing! The… whatever that thing was, evaded."

"What's the status on that frigate's void shields?" Marie asked.

"Not sure, XO, warp-energy is making our primary and secondary auspexes go haywire."

"Status on the torpedoes?"

"Impact in thirty seconds!"

"Release fighter-wing!" Sephilia shouted. If the torpedoes made it, it was now the time to spring the trap on the other frigate. If not, she'd need to fight back with everything she had anyways.

"Docking clamps released, linear catapults firing! Fury interceptors away! Starkhawk bombers away!" an ensign responded.

Sephilia grinned at the ensign's enthusiasm. People thought the _Daedalus _weak compared to its tonnage, but the truth was that nothing could be more inaccurate. While she may not have as much of a broadside as a normal imperial ship of the same class, she housed a complement of eight Fury interceptors and four Starhawk bombers, their pilots handpicked by her father from her House's longest serving auxiliary naval families; the pilots' fanatic loyalty and skills were unquestionable.

"_Daedalus_, this is flight lead, we're five by five. Targets, my Captain?" it was the crisply professional tenor voice of the flight leader, veteran of two crusades and one of the most dangerous men Sephilia kept aboard her ship.

"Stand by to intercept possible enemy projectiles. Wait for further instructions," Sephilia said. "The torpedoes, status!"

"ETA 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, mark!"

The bridge was silent as nothing seemed to happen. Sephilia's head spinned, wondering whether the torpedoes were duds or whether the void-shields were still too strong. She swore bloody vengeance on the techpriests who made the explosion mechanism for them.

Then, the frigate imploded, and it started to turn inside out.

The daemon reached out with its tentacles, grabbing onto the Chaos frigate that was Sephilia's next target.

"By the Emperor, I've seen something like that before," Marie broke the silence. "It's being banished back to the warp, and it's trying to hold on to reality."

"Then let's not keep it from going back home," Sephilia snarled. "All guns, fire on secondary target!"

The _Daedalus's _portside opened fire, the plasma cannons were supported by one of the tools Sephilia had picked up in the Damocles Gulf, an integrated Tau railgun modified with human technology: excellent long-range weaponry if a little weak, but very accurate.

The railgun punched straight through the heart of the struggling vessel.

The Chaos frigate, struggling with the daemon's tentacles, didn't have a chance.

The bridge whooped in victory and relief as the daemon was banished and the two frigates were smashed to bits.

"Move to support the _Secondborn_!"

The _Secondborn_ was engaged in a vicious brawl with the Chaos cruiser and frigate. Her void shields were barely holding, and the Chaos scum launched their torpedoes.

"Patch me through!" Sephilia said, and wasted no time in explaining her stratagem. "_Secondborn_, this is the _Daedalus_, interweave course with us at the uplinked coordinates. We'll take the torpedoes."

"Understood. You took the frigates already? My compliments to you and yours, Captain."

"Thank you, Captain. Now let's finish the heretics! _Daedalus_, out." Sephilia contemplated for a moment, before ordering "flight lead, harry the frigate."

"… Not the cruiser, my Lady?"

"The last I checked, I was the Captain of _Daedalus_, flight-lead," Sephilia warned.

"By your command, all flight engaging Archenemy frigate."

Marie briefly flashed her a smile and a thumbs-up. Sephilia sighed in relief that she approved.

Usually, fighters were used to harry the bigger targets from using their bigger guns on the mothership.

The problem was, the architects of most 'bigger ships' knew that perfectly well. They included countermeasures such as the ubiquitous Goalkeeper anti-fighter/torpedo las batteries in the designs.

In this case, the two imperial ships could handle the bigger ship, but the Chaos frigate probably didn't have the anti-fighter weaponry that bigger ships had. The fighters might even get lucky and finish the damaged vessel.

"Torpedoes incoming, Captain!"

"All power to portside void shields." Sephilia switched to the vox for the entire ship. "All hands, brace for impact!"

The _Daedalus _shuddered as the power of the explosives knocked her off-course, her bow almost colliding with the _Secondborn_'s void shields.

"Report!"

"Void shields at 68%, Captain!"

Sephilia voxed the enginarium, "Techpriests, give me more power!"

"There are rituals to be observed to please the machine spirits, the Omnissiah doesn't give things out for free," a techpriest said in the dreadful monotone that most cogboys adopted.

Sephilia really wanted to scream something to the effect of 'Emperor feth you and your gakked machine spirits you piece of ferroplas shit! I'll turn you into an Emperor-damned servitor if I must!' It would look undignified, though, so she settled at "Well, hop to it!"

"Lined up, firing!"

The two imperial warships fired their broadsides simultaneously, and Sephilia observed that the _Secondborn_ had also just launched all of its starboard torpedoes.

Its captain was betting the battle on this maneuver.

"Turn around as quickly as possible, we must bring our forward lance batteries to bear before the torpedoes reach the cruiser!"

The _Daedalus _shuddered again as the Chaos cruiser's starboard broadside raked across its void shields. "Void shields at 29% and bleeding, Captain!"

"Techpriest!"

"We haven't even burned the incense yet!" a techpriest in the enginarium protested.

"Skip the normal incense burning!" Sephilia snarled.

"Skipping the incense, aye! We'll pay hells for this later…" another techpriest grumbled.

"Firing solutions confirmed, firing!" an ensign said.

Sephilia forgot to breathe as she watched the lances hit. She thought it was too quick.

She was wrong, the broadsides slammed in immediately afterwards. The Chaos ship's void shields held… and faltered, flickering out.

Anti-torpedo batteries took out a quarter of the torpedoes, but there were just too many to take at once. The Chaos cruiser's back was broken.

Critical engine failure finished the job, and the imperials whooped as bits and pieces of Chaos filth were torn out of the hull.

"Shared kill?" the Captain of the _Secondborn_ was sporting a fierce grin.

"No, Captain. It was your strategy that paid off."

"Well, I suggest rejoining the main battle. Our subspace engines are damaged, we can't make quite the speed necessary to… ah well. We'll finish off that frigate."

"Understood, good hunting, _Daedalus _out," Sephilia said.

"The main battle is not going well for us…." Marie remarked at the tactical hologram.

The trap, of fooling the Chaos ships to coming in mid-range of the Imperial-held hives' orbital defenses, had been sprung successfully it seemed, but it wasn't enough. Most of the system-bound SDF vessels were down; two remained of light-cruiser strength and one of a heavy-cruiser strength. The battlecruiser that had escorted the Guard regiments in, the _Potentate of Hierma_, was also alive, and so were her two frigate escorts. The Grey Knights' strike cruiser was likewise for the most part unharmed.

The one remaining Chaos heavy-cruiser, and two frigates, didn't worry Sephilia much. The battle-barge, however, was an altogether different story.

It was more than likely that the best case scenario had most imperial ships go down in flames. The question was whether they could take the battle-barge, the _Vengeance of Colchis_, down with them.

"Flight lead, new target, back in the main fight, engage the frigate _Spawn of Death._"

"Copy that."

"Patch me through to the _Potentate_."

"They're ignoring us, Captain, or their machine spirits have been damaged."

"There's nothing for it, then. Intercept course for the closest Chaos frigate, uplinking coordinates."

The wait seemed like forever to Sephilia, helpless to do anything for the imperials. The Chaos battle-barge, meanwhile, fired a broadside that destroyed one of the light cruisers. Thankfully, the imperials took the other of the Chaos frigates out of commission.

"Firing solution confirmed!" an ensign said.

"Forward lance batteries, firing!"

"Direct hit, but Archenemy shields holding!"

But it didn't matter. The _Herald of Titan_'s starboard broadside raked across its shields, which failed. Three torpedoes from _Daedalus'_s Starhawk bombers finished the job.

The Chaos cruiser and battle-barge burned their sub-light engines, trying to reach the _Potentate_.

"Flight lead, my compliments on the kill. Engage Chaos cruiser. Two Furies remain behind to screen for possible boarding torpedoes," Marie said. "With your approval, Captain?"

"Approved. We cannot let the traitor angels board us or the other imperial ships."

"Chaos battle-barge is firing!"

The shields of the SDF's heavy-cruiser class warship's void shields held, but barely. The battle-barge turned about to present its other broadside.

"Their stern, vulnerable!"

"Cross the T!" Marie barked.

"Starboard broadside, firing."

All imperial ships gave everything they had against the battle-barge. The void-shields held.

"Fury 2 and Fury 5 down! Fury 2 confirmed death. Fury 5 confirmed engine failure."

"Clusterfeth, gak it all. Emperor damn that barge and the traitors in it!" Marie snarled.

"Flight lead, pull back, harry the Archenemy cruiser," Sephilia said. "Present portside, cross the T again."

"It won't work… we need the _Secondborn_," an ensign at the strategium said.

As if echoing those sentiments, the _Potentate_ transmitted coordinates to rendezvous with the _Secondborn_.

"We won't make it, that's a battle-barge we're talking about, traitors though they are," Marie said. "The Admiral must know this."

The SDF heavy-cruiser's void-shields finally relented.

"Enemy boarding torpedoes, released! Furies moving into intercept!"

Seventeen boarding torpedoes sped towards the heavy-cruiser. Six Furies moved into intercept.

The bridge quaked in rage as eleven boarding torpedoes made it.

"Flight lead, open fire at the breached locations!" Sephilia said.

"I hear and obey."

"That'll damage the cruiser, Captain," an ensign protested.

"Idiot, it's our only chance to kill as many traitor astartes as we can," Marie said. "All Starhawk bombers, fire on the uplinked target."

"That's the enginarium!"

"Their sacrifice will be remembered by the Emperor. As much as we hate to admit it, the SDF cannot fend off a traitor astartes boarding action," Sephilia said. "Keep firing."

"The SDF are broadcasting that there were no traitor astartes on the boarding torpedoes!"

"They lie to save their own skin! They have forsaken their duty to the Emperor, they are no longer humans nor under the protection of our divine Emperor! Keep firing!" the _Daedalus_'s confessor said.

"Confessor, this ship has a Captain," Marie warned.

The confessor shrugged. "My apologies, Captain."

"But yes, keep firing, on both targets," Sephilia said.

"Bridge, what kind of warp-damned void-shields do they have?" a gunnery officer complained.

An intervox from the broadside cannons crackled. "My apologies, Captain, but our work-crews are getting tired."

"This is a matter of life and death for an entire hive world of the Emperor, a vital component of imperial power in this sub-sector and a crucial planet for the Crusade-efforts. Your work-crews will keep at it, or I will cut their rations by half for two weeks and confiscate those disgusting porno slates. The work-crew with the highest rate of fire, on the other hand, will get double the rations for amasec and four days' extra R&R at one of the hives down there."

"Yes, my Lady. I will try to coerce them as best I can."

"Confessor, you're needed down at the cannons, starboard side. Ensign Wasch, please escort him down there," Marie said.

Sephilia nodded in approval.

"Enemy broadside, and it's aimed at us!"

"They think we have the weaker shields," Marie snorted. "Idiots."

"Brace for impact!"

Some of the shots missed, having been fired at an extreme range.

But it was a battle-barge's broadside, and even a few of the shots being on target had devastating effects.

"Shields back down to 17%!"

"… We won't survive a direct broadside."

"Chaos ships retreating, Captain!"

"Looks like they want to recharge shields… flight lead, fall back. We rendezvous with the _Secondborn_. Emergency repair team alpha through gamma, take shuttles 4 and 5 to cross over and assist the _Potentate_."

"Incoming transmissions from dirtside, Inquisitorial signatures!"

"Patch them through."

Agnus's hologram appeared at the command throne.

"Are you alright, Agnus?"

There was a little lag. "Our lines are holding," Agnus shrugged. "A hive is a big place. We can trade space for time. A little worried about enemy astartes. Might be a daemon prince down here, but not sure yet. Anyhow, I heard a battle-barge is giving you, ah… problems?"

"It's slow, but not slow enough to make a difference. If you just wanted to check in, Agnus, I'm fine. I'm busy."

"Oh, yeah. Umm… about that, you know, the battle-barge… would you be, hypothetically, angry if I told you I smuggled a heavy atomic bomb on to your ship?"

The bridge was dead quiet for a few moments.

"Agnus, inquisitor or not I will strangle you with my own hands," Sephilia growled. "Where the hell is it? We've got to space it, now."

"Eh… so a little angry? I'm sorry about that. But the thing is, it might just save you."

"How, you idiot? If it explodes, it could kill us all!"

"No, no, you see, when I told you to put a few packages in the vault, one of them was an atomic bomb and one of the other packages was an experimental teleporter, STC design repaired by Necrons."

"Tech-heresy," a techpriest on the bridge hissed.

"No, it's STC design, the Necrons simply had the courtesy to fix it. Anyhow, it'll take a lot of power to-"

"Wait, if that teleporter works, we can teleport the bomb onto the battle-barge."

Agnus beamed, "I knew my smart, beautiful, brave, and, uh… oh yeah, kind, and merciful Captain would figure it out."

Sephilia felt her face flush, but regained her composure, "If you thought empty flattery was going to make me forgive you-"

"Who said anything about empty? Ah, the enemy! The packages you're looking for are N-3 and Z-918 Remember, teleporter only works when the barge's void shields are down!" Agnus disappeared abruptly.

Sephilia screamed in pure and unblinking frustration.

The hologram came back on again. "Ah, last thought, if the situation doesn't look good I want you to escape, Sephilia."

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine, do you have any idea how many daemons I banished? Well, I helped banish," Agnus's reassuring smile made the rare slip of faltering, leaving the inquisitor with an uncharacteristically somber expression.

"This is inquisitor Agnus Crowfeather of the Ordo Malleus, this system's most direct representative of the Emperor's will and this is my decree: the _Daedalus _will jump to the nearest Imperium-held system if its shields are in danger of collapsing. I do not care if the battle-barge isn't destroyed, the _Daedalus_ does not, I repeat, does not have permission to stand, especially if it's the only imperial ship remaining in the system. Confirm order."

Sephilia was touched by the uncharacteristic vulnerability that Agnus displayed. How she wished to stand beside him at the hive.

That sentiment soon turned into rage. Agnus dared treat her as he would a child! She would never abandon imperials in need of assistance; she was a noble for an Emperor-damned reason and she intended to see to her duty to her last breath. He was so infuriatingly patronizing she almost gagged in disgust and hurt pride.

The romantic side of her also raged at how Agnus didn't even have the decency to confess his love for her even though it may be the last time they speak.

Sephilia managed to calm herself and turn her expression into that of non-emotion. "Inquisitor Agnus, the communication signals are getting weak, prime suspect: Chaos jamming modules." Sephilia scanned the bridge. "Did anyone hear anything?"

To Sephilia's immense satisfaction, a chorus of negatives rang through the bridge. She was so proud she thought she'd even allow them extra amasec rations after the battle.

"No."

"No, Captain."

"Negative."

"Nope."

"What're you talking about, Captain?"

"My mother boxed my ears when I didn't pass the _Imperial Standardized Proficiency Test in Low Gothic Listening: Grade 1_. Course, that didn't help."

"Terrible hangover from last night, I'm sorry Captain."

"I think I might've eaten orkish fungi last night, captain, because it tasted like shit and it smelled like it when I shat. Humbly petitioning for better meals."

"Does anyone have a lighter?"

"The bridge is smoke-free you idiot!"

"The headsets were unplugged, damn!"

"Look! Void-cockroach!"

"Ewww!"

"A lot of static."

"Emperor-damned heretics."

"I think I heard something, Bartley farted!"

"Feth you, Trey! It was the sound of you wetting your pants!"

"Nothing."

"Was that a mosquito on the bridge?"

"Can you specify 'anything', Captain?"

"I think I saw the ghost of my favorite singer, ma'am! I think it was Elvis!"

"Damnable ear-wax, I knew I should've gotten my ears checked the last time we had R&R."

"Hear? Naw."

"Just the sound of our guns, my Lady."

"Not a thing, Captain."

Agnus's face contorted into that of incredulous disbelief at having been so flagrantly disobeyed. "You damned liars! This is no time to play at heroism! You will obey or I will have you all executed and declared Hereticus Abomini! Repeating command-"

"Ah! Inquisitor, we're losing you! Good luck on the ground!" an ensign had the right sense to turn off transmissions slowly.

"The inquisitor is still hailing us, Captain."

"What inquisitor? What hail?" Sephilia said, her face all innocence and vicious satisfaction. "Retrieve the packages, oversee the works. Marie, I can only entrust you with this."

The XO looked hesitant to leave the bridge. Sephilia could tell. They had lived together for nearly twenty years, after all.

But Sephilia was fed up with the protecting, pampering, and mothering. For once in her life,, she had to break free of the cage.

"Now. I'll be fine," Sephilia added.

"Understood, Captain. Archeotech professionals, with me! Explosive experts, with me! To the vault!"

"Captain, hostile forces turning around to pursue us."

"Flight lead, pester them but stay don't take too many risks. Stay alive."

"Yes, my Captain!"

The intervox beeped, signaling a message from the ship's Navigator, Marsara.

"Captain. A Chaos battle-barge is coming after us."

"Yes… and your point is?"

"It is time to consider the inquisitor's orders," the Navigator said, her tone making it perfectly clear why they should consider them. "As powerful as the _Daedalus_ may be, we must not forget reality. This is the only warp-capable ship that might escape to bring news to Sabbat Worlds' Crusade headquarters. Further, this ship is a resource of the Inquisition, the Crowfeather cartel, and is a registered Rogue Trader vessel."

"I see," Sephilia said, seething in the inside but presenting a cool and collected voice. "Your arguments have merits, Marsara. However, the _Daedalus_ is first and foremost a ship of the Imperium. The Emperor's claim on this ship is greater than anyone else's."

"But-"

"I'm not finished. Below us are upwards of sixty billion imperial citizens. Around us are three habitable imperial-held planets. Fighting with us are the Emperor's angels of death, and what remains the only effective fleet the imperium has in this system. Out there are also tens of thousands of men who died fighting Chaos… their bodies cold in the void," Sephilia shook her head emphatically. "I do not advocate a fruitless death. But, we have a teleporter and a thermonuclear bomb aboard. If we take down that ship's void shields, we have a fighting chance-"

"It is a fighting chance I'm afraid is quite low, Captain."

"But enough of a chance that we owe it to both the living and the dead in this system. Enough of a chance that we owe it to ourselves to try. Enough of a chance that it is our duty to the Emperor, the Imperium, and our loved ones. That will be all, Marsara. You are welcome to input any observations of the warp, but for now I have a battle-barge to kill. Sephilia out."

The coms were silent, and Sephilia finally had a moment of reprieve. The Chaos ships were not catching up any time soon, and one lone ensign fed her status updates. The techpriests were increasing energy output to combat-levels, and the void shields were restored.

Sephilia wondered if she was risking her crew and ship for no good reason. She couldn't share her concerns, though. Only Marie could know of her uncertainties. It would weaken her command if others knew.

What the Navigator had said was correct, though. It was the height of irresponsibility to squander the ship and the crew. It was, in fact, a crime. On the other hand, it was impossible to know whether it would be futile or not until the fight.

"Sephilia," a voice rang out, snapping Sephilia out of her reveries. It was so easy to get lost in thought in the command throne.

"Good news, I hope?"

"We've uncovered the archeotech. The techpriests connected it to the main plasma generators. Not sure if it'll work, though," Marie said. "The thermonuclear bomb is certainly large enough. We should be fine if the teleporter places it anywhere near their generators."

"Good work, Marie. Return to the bridge immediately."

"Understood."

Sephilia thought that knowing the teleporter and the bomb would work would bring her some measure of peace. It did not. She had not the foggiest idea in the deepest pits of the warp how she would disable the monstrous battle-barge's void shields. She transmitted her data to the Admiral, but even he couldn't come up with a concrete plan of action yet.

"Music," Sephilia croaked.

"Captain?"

"Shipwide broadcast, inspirational music. Start with _The Emperor's Angels_," Sephilia growled, massaging her neck. "Bring up a masseuse. Any will do but fraulein Honeker would be best. Water and C-RATs for everyone. I'll take my afternoon tea. Now!"

"At once, milady," an ensign said, punching in the necessary intervox commands.

The Chaos cruiser and battle-barge were making hot pursuit, trying to cut off Imperial forces from the _Secondborn_.

"One light cruiser, one battlecruiser, one heavy-cruiser, two frigates… we definitely need the _Secondborn_," Sephilia muttered. "Even if we take the battle-barge's void shields down, there is no guarantee the bomb will make it."

"Then one of the frigates will have to ram it in its most vulnerable section," Marie said, having just returned to the bridge.

"A failsafe plan I'd rather not consider. There are still thousands of imperial souls aboard the frigates."

"Why, that'd create thousands of imperial martyrs, then."

* * *

><p>Still very busy with the internship but I had a lot of this chapter written already anyways.<p> 


	6. Daemonslayer

On the second day of the siege, the fates of sixty billion imperial souls were still at stake.

Agnus had revealed the identity of the Daemon Prince that the heretics were summoning, or had already summoned. Inquisitor Khyas of the Hereticus was not amused. It would become a disaster if the thing mentioned to anyone else that it had once been an Astartes. The Imperium did not take kindly to non-inquisitorial personnel who realized that humans could become daemons.

If the Daemon Prince made his way into the city, they could not afford to take any chances. Even if the Imperium was victorious, the parts of the hive that it went through would burn. This Daemon Prince was indeed that dangerous, bearing the top threat designations of both the Ordo Malleus and the Ordo Hereticus.

A traitor Astartes of the highest order and sworn enemy of all Emperor-fearing men.

One of Agnus's natural prey, and at the same time an enemy he feared on the highest level. A ten-thousand years old mad man warrior monk mass murderer was one thing, one who was so successful as to kill hundreds of billions and ascend to daemonhood was quite another matter.

Agnus flinched as another barrage of heavy bolter rounds destroyed the walls of the middle hive apartment he and his team were in.

"Someone do something about that Obliterator!" he voxed, and autocannon rounds from a Guard squad obliged. Thankfully, Kriegan grenadiers were moving in to rescue the precious resource of an inquisitor and his retinue.

"Covering fire!" Jelavich roared and a torrent of firepower from said resource poured out at the Chaos scum. Of course, it was easy to be brave in a power armor, never mind that Agnus himself was in one, too.

The Kriegan grenadiers reached their objective, and one of them, under the cover of suppressing fire, charged towards the building the cultists were taking refuge in.

"What the hell is he doing, sergeant," Agnus snapped.

"There are five obliterators, a score of cultists, two minor daemons, and three Word Bearers in that building, Inquisitor," the sergeant said as if what he had just said made perfect sense

The building housing the Chaos scum exploded in a blinding flash of plasma.

"… Almost as good as regular Astartes," Jelavich nodded in respect.

"We cannot let his sacrifice be in vein," Alice urged, and the rest of the squad as well as the inquisitorial troops started running.

"How is the line, sergeant?" the inquisitor asked.

"By the grace of the God-Emperor, His Sororitas, and His Astartes, holding," the sergeant said. "There have been sightings of a Daemon Prince, supposedly."

"What?! Absolutely certain?!"

"The Guardsmen who had seen it were sent on suicide missions, my man being one of them. They were Kriegans, inquisitor, you can trust their word."

"He's been purged, yes?" The sergeant nodded grimly.

"Damnation," Agnus hissed as he opened a vox link with central. "Central, this is inquisitor Agnus! Balance of power report, now!"

"Two hundred and thirty two Sororitas, forty eight Astartes, eight hundred and ninety two skitarii, twenty one thousand Kriegans, seven thousand Vostroyans, PDF casualties are unknown, anywhere from one hundred to one hundred and twenty thousand remaining. First batch of air-borne reinforcements from the other hive have arrived, and been wiped out," Lord Militant Noriega replied.

"Wiped out?! What kind of incompetents were leading them?!"

"The usual that one can expect of inbred planetary nobility, I'm afraid," Noriega snarled. "Fortunately the second batch seems to be of good caliber and is assaulting enemy Hydra positions as we speak. Our Marauders have been giving Archenemy supply lines hell. I've asked inquisitor Khyas for complete authority over this planet's loyalist forces. He has been out of contact, too."

Agnus saw where this conversation was flowing, "Authority is granted, Lord General. I will attempt to hold the traitor Astartes and the daemons back in this quadrant. Any word from the rogue trader, Lady Sephilia and the _Daedalus_?

"I'm afraid they have been ignoring all communications, including the astrotelepathic ones."

"I see… there's nothing for it, then. The Emperor protects."

"He protects the righteous and the faithful," Noriega snorted. "I'm afraid we are seriously lacking in that sort on this planet."

"Well, we do have nearly fifty Astartes. They're kinda righteous. No telling what the Sororitas do in their free time, so they're out. There are the Kriegans, but they always insist on dying in one way or another. We have an assassin, so she's out. We have a squat, but he's abhuman. There's the rest of this planet's people, but we know they're screwed. Oh, and there's you and your Guard High Command. So yes, it is an Inquisitor's professional opinion that we are screwed and that the Emperor would sigh 'good riddance' at our deaths."

Noriega roared out in laughter, and after an appropriate pause, so did the rest of High Command and Agnus's retinue.

"Ach, well. If what your Grey Knights' captain said was true, we're doomed anyways."

"I will not let it come to that," Agnus said. "Having met a few Daemon Princes, I know for a certainty he'll show himself in any sort of a major assault. All PDF forces, the Grey Knights, and the Sororitas will mount an assault then. That will decide the fate of this hive, and this world. Where are the civilians?"

"A great many non-essentials have been evacuated outside the city limits. There are gangers in the underhives resisting the Chaos scum as stubbornly as they resisted imperial authority. Some civilians have formed 'scratch companies' that are using their superior knowledge of the terrain and shortcuts to cut Archenemy supply lines."

"Good. Better than most hives, then."

"Better than most hives," Noriega agreed.

"The Emperor protects, then. May He at least take pity on us."

"Indeed. The Emperor protects, Inquisitor."

"… In case you haven't noticed, there's a full Chaos warband here. More than two hundred of the traitor Astartes and their Daemon Prince," Alice chirped. "We're going to lose, milord."

"I don't know why I have a smartass and pessimistic Callidus assassin. Why couldn't they give me a nice Vindicare one? Be a lot more useful in situations like this," Agnus complained.

"Ah, but they aren't equipped to provide the service I provide, are they?" she smirked as she set up a firing position in the adjacent windowsill.

"Dervis, switch places with me."

"Eh?" the Cadian was not amused. The heavy stubber he'd requisitioned took a lot of time to set up.

"Never mind. I'm going upstairs. Don't want the loonies targeting the heavies to target me by accident."

"By the Emprah, grow a pair!" the assassin jeered.

"Praise the Omnissiah, for I am a certified surgeon with testiculus bionicus!" the cogboy in Agnus's retinue shouted.

"By the Emprah, really?!" a random guardsmen nearby asked. Agnus noticed that the area around his crotch seemed less heavily loaded than it should be, and wondered if Wyrie was pulling his leg again or actually serious about testiculus bionicus. Wyrie had a strangely advanced social conduct algorithm in his systems.

Everything sounds High Gothic and official when you put 'us' at the end.

"Praised be the Emprah! I am issuing priority one requisition orders for testiculus bionicus, as well as other bionics, as soon as we win this war!" Agnus said, recognizing that this might be a good opportunity to raise the flagging morale of the PDF imbeciles and the Guardsmen around him.

"For the Emprah!" They all cheered.

By the Emperor, Agnus was determined not to die before he had sex with a Tau, an Eldar, a Dark Eldar, a Necron, and a Keeper of Secrets. In short, he wanted to die in bed with pastrami in his bellies and his cock in some cunt or mouth, just the way the God-Emperor meant for him to die.

"I'll also throw in free, yes I said FREE, service from all remaining joygirls in the hive for a week after our victory. So who's with me?! In the Emprah's name!" The soldiers went wild in jubilation, though not entirely sure if it was politically appropriate for an Inquisitor to say things like that.

"Our lives for the Emprah!" the defenders of humanity were properly motivated. With some luck in space and the currents of the warp, some might even live to see that week.

* * *

><p>"<em>The Potentate <em>and the _Secondborn_ have lined up, captain," an ensign said. "_The Potentate_'s two frigate escorts are ready."

"Flight lead, what is your status?" Sephilia asked over the long-range vox.

"They don't seem to have detected us, milady. No sign of heretic interceptors. We're clear to engage."

"Understood. Standby and prepare to engage on my mark."

"As you will."

"Ensign Hadley, alert the ship. Code 1, battle stations."

A massive red button was pressed, sending a pulse of screaming noise down all the decks of the _Daedalus_. Whips cracked, forcing the indentured gunnery crews into position. Naval commissars kicked recruits out of their beds. Enginseers started burning the incense. The Tau railgun, having more range than anything else in the solar system, fired its first salvo as if to signal the arrival of their doom.

It did nothing.

"Helm, gunneries portside ready."

"Helm, gunneries starboard ready."

"Helm, enginarium ready."

"Helm, marines ready."

"Helm, fighter wing ready."

"Acknowledged, all. Ensign Drake, Fede Imperialis on all intravox channels, Low Gothic."

"Fede Imperialis on all intravox channels, aye!"

Sephilia entered the command throne, immersing herself and her suit fully. The cogboys worked their way with the wires and the ports in her suit. The command helm was lowered onto her head.

The captain hissed as she came in contact with the ship's machine spirit. It was not pleased. It could tell that it was outgunned and out-shielded. It could smell the fear in the crew members.

"Ensign Humner, patch me through to the whole ship."

"Aye, ma'am."

"Speech! Speech! Speech! Speech! Speech! Speech! Speech! Speech! Speech!" the bridge chorused with grins plastered on their faces.

"Men and women of the _Daedalus_, this is your Captain speaking," Sephilia began. She wondered what she could possibly say to people the remainder of whose lives were likely measured in hours at best.

"This vessel is a Rogue Trader vessel, ordained by the powers that be to charter space beyond the light of our Divine Majesty. To learn of xenos the Imperium has yet to encounter. To search for lost Standard Template Constructs. To bring news and technologies to the higher-ups within the Imperium. To connect the worlds of our Imperium with the bonds of trade," Sephilia paused. Those were indeed the primary duties of a Rogue Trader, but she could not say whether her crew would understand the next part.

"While Rogue Trader vessels are granted many privileges, they are also duty-bound to offer assistance to besieged Imperial forces…. Almost within weapons range is a battle barge of the traitor astartes. Below us, the primary hive, Aether, is under attack by traitor astartes, daemons, and cultists. I will not lie to you. This ship and all hands on it will most likely die." Even in the bridge the tension was palpable. Morale was dangerously low. Xenos were one thing. Traitor astartes and daemons were something else entirely.

"No matter the forces arrayed against us, however, hundreds of billions of imperial souls are at stake. By the grace of the Emperor, we, through our ship, can do something about it. The _Daedalus_ will do her duty for the Emperor and Imperium. We will not throw our lives away, but we will do everything we can to stop the Archenemy. We will not leave hundreds of billions of imperials to be put to the sword. We are no guardsmen with commissars at our backs to blow our brains out if we retreat, but we will not retreat without knowing we can do no more." Sephilia could see through the many sensors within the ship that the crew was perking up. Even the 'volunteer' gunnery crews did not wish to run away from the deaths of so many imperials.

"Look to your shipmates. Attend to your duties. Fight as you never have before. The Emperor judges us all, and I will not have my crew found wanting. But though he judges… though he is a stern Father… remember also that our God remembers even the smallest of us… the most insignificant of our fragile existence… even the most pathetic of our lives. Take heart in that. The Emperor watch over you, and if this is our final moment, I will see you at the Emperor's side my brothers and sisters in arms. Sephilia out."

"The Emperor give us enough dakka today," she prayed after turning off the communications link.

"What was that?" Marie looked at her quizzically.

"Nothing," Sephilia answered hastily. "Litany of hate."

"Captain, railgun ready!"

"Fire away. Estimated enemy battle barge shield strength?"

"At least 97%, milady!"

"They've recovered that quickly?" even Marie couldn't conceal her dismay.

"Imperial forward lance batteries, all firing!"

"It's not enough. This'll all be decided in the broadsides."

"Take us parallel to the _Potentate_. We cannot risk the battle barge using both of her broadsides," Marie said.

"And let them take the hit?!" Sephilia snapped.

"I swore to your father I'd bring you back alive, and I will. The _Daedalus _cannot take a full broadside from an astartes battle barge. The _Potentate_ can."

"Frontal shields at 89% and holding!" an ensign shouted.

"What about the battle barge?"

"We can't bring it down without our own broadsides, milady."

"Should I send in the fighters, Marie?"

"Best harass the light cruiser… the battle barge's point defense will be too much for them," the First Mate reasoned.

"That light cruiser can do little to help the heretic scum on the planet. That battle barge, on the other hand, has who knows how many traitor astartes and monstrosities," a tactical officer on the bridge countered.

Sephilia frowned but it made a certain sense when she thought about it. In the long run, it mattered little whether the Chaos light cruiser was destroyed.

"Then it would behoove of us to send the fighters at them when it is important to overwhelm their point defense," Sephilia opened a communications channel to the fighters. "Flight lead, keep engines low. Power up four minutes later on my mark and engage the Archenemy battle barge. Priority target their engines and their forward lance batteries. Now… mark!"

"Copy that _Daedalus_."

"Archenemy battle barge approaching!"

"The _Secondborn _has an angle at its topside, ma'am, they're releasing full broadside. At this vector they're going straight for the _Potentate_."

"Are we parallel to the _Potentate_?"

"We will be soon, ma'am."

The holodramas of the Imperium depicted space battles as excitable and fast-paced affairs. That was most decidedly not true. It was a slow affair and getting into broadside range doubly so. The bridge crew could do nothing but wait with bated breath, and fire whenever the forward lance batteries were charged.

The Archenemy had realized that the _Secondborn_ was limping and in dire straits, and concentrated all firepower against it. Already its shields were below half-strength.

"Our fighters are powering up, ma'am," an ensign said.

"Enemy battle barge in broadside range in thirty seconds," a techpriest said.

Sephilia was terrified. Her neck was tense. Her shoulders ached. Her heart raced. She was always ready to die for the Emperor, but she didn't think that eventuality would come so soon.

"Backwards acceleration, full speed!" Marie shouted.

The starboard broadside of the _Potentate_ raked across the enemy battle barge's portside void shields. The battle barge also spent its broadside at the _Potentate_.

"Status on the _Potentate_!" Sephilia snapped.

"Trailing atmosphere, ma'am, but the superstructure is holding!"

The _Daedalus_'s own broadside tore into the battle barge's void shields, this time free of retaliation. The monstrous ship's void shields finally started flickering.

"If that wasn't enough…" Marie gaped at the resilience of the Chaos ship.

The frigates _Pillar of Winter_ and _Vengeance of Choam_ were locked in combat with the Archenemy light cruiser, and would be of no use. The _Secondborn_ was too damaged to last in any prolonged battles.

"This is the _Secondborn_, we're going in."

Sephilia had no idea what that meant.

"The _Secondborn _has changed bearings! Intercept course with the battle barge! Impact in twenty seconds!"

Escape pods and shuttles flurried like bees fleeing a fire at the beehive. The battle barge turned, realizing the threat that the battlecruiser presented.

The captain of the _Secondborn_, Sephilia realized, had been waiting for the right moment. The escape pods weren't sent out earlier because he did not want to give away his plans to the Archenemy.

Firing every last one of its weapons that could be directed forward, the _Secondborn_ collided with the battle barge amidships and went up in a disastrous generator failure.

By Sephilia's reckoning, tens of thousands of imperial martyrs were just sacrificed.

The battle barge's void shields were down, and the explosion had rent a great hole in the hull, but its superstructure still stood.

In the aftermath of the explosion, only the _Daedalus_ knew of the lone Fury interceptor that plunged into the hole, ascertaining the exact location of the battle barge's enginarium.

"Coordinates received!"

Sephilia had just enough time to send an astrotelepathic message to the pilot, thanking him for his sacrifice.

"Bomb away!" Marie reported, and the readings indicated that the nuclear device did indeed make it to the battle barge's enginarium. Agnus had neglected to mention that the bomb was actually a cluster of six bombs woven together. Sephilia was going to kill him if she saw him again.

The nuclear device detonated, causing a catastrophic failure in the main plasma generators of the battle barge, overloading everything in the enginarium.

* * *

><p>The Sisters were praying.<p>

Even those of insignificant faith like Agnus felt like praying.

"I'm not sure about this, inquisitor," Khyas said for the fifth time, in the last minute.

"Inquisitor," Agnus cajoled with patience that was running thin. "Our mission, as it were, is to destroy the taint of Chaos on this misbegotten planet. What the Warmaster and our superiors meant when they ordered that was to keep the hives and the industrial centers running. Why? Because the current supply line to the Crusade effort is oh so many weeks and months in the warp away from the watchful gaze of the High Lords and may be disrupted at any given time. Now, that objective can hardly be accomplished if we allow them to sack and pillage their way up to the upper spires. Most of the hard-to-replace machinery that keep the manufactorii running are in the middle hives. It would be fitting, then, to not lose the middle hives to the Archenemy."

"That might be your mission. But it is not mine," the Hereticus inquisitor growled.

"Aren't you the picture of interdepartmental cooperation," Agnus muttered. "But the fact remains the same. Both of our heads will be on the chopping block because, oh I don't know, we allowed a bloody Daemon Prince take over a hive world?"

"We can flee to the other hive cities."

"The last I heard, we haven't heard back from our fleet. That means the battle barge is still out there, housing who knows how many daemons and traitor astartes. We have to at the least slay the Daemon Prince here and now, when we have over two hundred Sororitas and fifty Grey Knights left. It's a simple matter of calculus of force. We will lose if we give that battle barge time to deploy its cargo in this hive, and we will lose if that Daemon Prince is allowed this hive as another stronghold. The Crusade is in its fledgling state. We cannot afford to fail."

"… You thought about this a lot more than I had expected you to. I thought the only thing you cared about was the Daemon?" Khyas's eyes glinted, causing Agnus to recoil instinctively from the accusation in that glance.

"Hey, I'm part of none of the factions in our organization. I have no vested interest in this planet except, you know, personal gains like power and money. Trivial stuff. Do you think I became an inquisitor for a life of luxury and peace?" Agnus raised an eyebrow, nodding at the imperial forces arrayed near them.

The inquisitors stood in the middle of the main avenue of the western section of the forty second level of the hive. It was a nexus of roads, transportation, and communication lines. Without control of the avenue, the imperials could not move troops and supplies around with as much ease in the middle hives. If the Archenemy controlled it, they could move about until they reached the upper spires with impunity.

All remaining Sororitas, Grey Knights, the Vostroyan and Kriegan Guard forces, the Gayan 23rd Armored, and most of the ragtag remains of the PDF were there. The plan was to lure the Daemon out, surround it with all the firepower they had (i.e. the twenty one remaining Leman Russes, all the artillery pieces, the one Shadowsword, literally anything that had a slim to good chance of damaging a Daemon Prince at range that Agnus could scrap together), send in the Sororitas and the Grey Knights, and pray that was enough.

As plans went, it didn't have many contingency plans or safety nets for that matter. The only good thing that could be said about it was that it was simple.

Thus far, the PDF and the Guardsmen were holding ground remarkably well. Agnus watched some of the dregs of society (that most PDF troopers tended to be) fleeing from a phalanx of traitor astartes. A commissar attached to one of the Vostroyan regiments shot them down with alacrity.

If only the commissar displayed the same phenomenal accuracy against the traitor astartes. Then the war would be won.

The bells rang at the local cathedral, one of the four great ones in the middle hives. Agnus heard well-practiced voices sing, doubtless through vox amplifiers of the building.

"A spiritu dominatus. Domine, libra no," the voices began.

Though he knew the Emperor was far too busy to care about him, Agnus could not help but hum the lyrics. "From the lightning and the tempest. Our Emperor, deliver us. From the scourge of the Kraken. Our Emperor, deliver us. From the blasphemy of the Fallen. Our Emperor, deliver us. From the begetting of daemons. Our Emperor, deliver us."

The voices within the cathedral reached a crescendo as the Fede Imperialis came to its climax. "A morte pereptua. Domine, libra nos. That thou wouldst bring them only death. That thou shouldst spare none. That thou shouldst pardon none. We beseech thee, destroy them!"

"I tread the path of Righteousness. Though it be paved with broken glass, I will walk it barefoot; though it cross rivers of fire, I will pass over them; though it wanders wide, the light of the Emperor guides my step," Khyas murmured to himself.

"Did you make that up?" Agnus was impressed.

"No. Saint Chirosius."

Canoness Aria, the leader of the Sororitas expedition on Aether IV, entered the guard post housing the two inquisitors. "The strength of the Emperor is Humanity, and the strength of Humanity is the Emperor."

"On that, Sebastian Thor and I heartily agree," Agnus nodded, raising his sniper rifle. He calibrated the scope to maximum zoom.

The Archenemy had yet to bring up their heaviest war machines or the Daemon Prince. Agnus allowed Khyas to take a look at the situation.

"Defilers." Khyas spat on the ground, taking his eyes off the scope.

"Fodder for the lascannons," Agnus dismissed. "More worried about that small horde of Nurglings. I'm fairly sure I was told the Daemon Prince Sarulek was a Word Bearer."

"Which means…?" Khyas prompted.

"Where are the daemons of the other powers?"

As if the powers of Chaos wanted to spite him, a horde of daemonettes, bloodletters, and horrors appeared from the east.

"… They must have a warp portal there. Cultist activities." Khyas reasoned.

"Grey Knights, take the daemons before they reach the artillery," Agnus ordered.

"Inquisitors, daemons at our rear!" Lord Militant Noriega shouted through the vox.

He need not have bothered, though. Fifty Grey Knights crashed into the tide of corruption, and were pushing it back. Twenty three Ogryns joined the fray. One of them had a malfunctioning limiter on their Ripper Gun, and fired near a dozen blasts into the face of one bloodletter. Agnus might have felt sorry for that bloodletter if it were not a blood-crazed daemonic maniac.

"Shouldn't you be there?" Khyas asked.

"I'm a blank, and the Grey Knights are using their psyker powers now. Of course not," Agnus reasoned. Unfortunately, he would not be able to use the same excuse when facing the Daemon Prince.

"Incoming Archenemy armor!" the PDF troopers at the front screamed.

Archenemy armor outnumbered imperial armor by a factor of fifteen or more. However, Noriega and the inquisitors had not chosen their battlefield for no reason. As the major hub of transportation through the middle hives, the avenue had many buildings suited for urban warfare, and urban warfare tended to give combatants a good chance of getting in spitting range of each other.

In this instance, suicide squads with industrial use explosives of all sorts a very good chance of getting close to the rear or at least side armor of Archenemy tanks and walkers. With so many in the lower and middle hives having been slaughtered in the indiscriminate fighting, there were plenty of imperial citizens who had lost family members and friends. The heretics believed the imperials beaten in terms of numbers, but that was only true of the regulars.

Within their own hive, the imperials had no shortage of volunteers more than willing to blow themselves up if it meant vengeance for friends and family. When it came time to pacify the hive the cultists came from, Agnus would take no chances. It was getting a limited scale exterminatus.

Agnus saw a juvie girl of perhaps fourteen years attach herself to the underbelly of a Defiler. The melta bomb strapped on her chest cooked the ammunition in it, sending it crashing back into other Defilers.

Nearby, an old man was tossed off a building straight on top of an Archenemy Predator. The plasma bombs strapped on him destroyed the twin-linked lascannon, melting it to slags and effectively making the tank useless.

"Wait for them to get closer," Noriega commanded on all imperial vox channels. "They're sending in infantry to cover the armor. All artillery, commence firing as soon as they're in range."

Agnus groaned as Captain Tacitus reported that three Grey Knights had fallen, though they managed to close the warp gate. Those were three less power armored gene-bred bodies between the Daemon Prince and himself.

"Take cover!" a guardsman screamed, and one of them, a stormtrooper, tackled Agnus to the ground.

Agnus's vision went blank as superheated laser washed over the guard post, blowing a hole through it. Khyas had ducked in time, but in his cumbersome power armor, Agnus doubted he would have made it if not for the stromtrooper.

As he turned around to thank his rescuer, Agnus realized that the lascannon round had come at a diagonal angle. Half of the stromtrooper who had saved him was nowhere to be found.

The Chaos tank that had the lascannon was blown to bits by imperial counterfire. Agnus's right hand wrapped itself around the ident tag of the stromtrooper. It was a sergeant Reinhold.

Another on the long list of true imperial heroes who had sacrificed their lives for him. Stormtroopers were hard-wired to consider high-value targets in terms of resources. They would not hesitate to save anyone they considered to have a higher value than themselves. Agnus hoped he would perform up to his expectations.

He looked around and saw that two more guardsmen had been killed. All across the battlefield, imperials were being slain in the hundreds by the push of Archenemy armor, astartes, and daemons.

"This is the great push," Khyas spelled out what Agnus was thinking.

"Yes… most likely right behind that vanguard of traitor astartes assault terminators," Agnus said.

"Cataphractii pre-heresy pattern tactical dreadnought armor," Khyas informed him.

"Does it matter what it's called?" Agnus rolled his eyes.

"I know Malleus isn't into details, but really."

"You Hereticus types care too much about details."

"Ready?"

"Can one ever be ready to face a Daemon Prince?"

"I'll take that as a yes."

"You really shouldn't."

"This is inquisitor Khyas to all Sororitas, Astartes, and Ogryns. On me."

"This is inquisitor Agnus to anyone with heavy firepower, overriding all other authority. Fire on that cluster of traitor astartes terminators. All heavy weapons teams, concentrate fire! All stormtroopers and bodyguards converge on me. Alice, fire as soon as you can take the shot."

"Yes, sir, inquisitor, sir," the Assassin drawled.

"Understood," Captain Tacitus said. Agnus sighed in relief as he bought the cock and bull story that he had fed him earlier so as to not get too close to the Daemon Prince. The Grey Knights would have a go at the madman first and then bring him in as a surprise if the battle wasn't going well.

If past experience was any indication, he'd be dragged into it before long, anyways. Fortunately, Wyrie had done some techpriestly thing that involved less incense-burning and prayer and more innovation in the direction that was less likely to get him killed.

"Archenemy Daemon Prince spotted!" a relay officer shouted into the vox, as if it weren't painfully obvious from the silhouette of hell that it cast over the battlefield.

"Grey Knights, we have found the moral threat. All imperial forces, we have sighted the moral threat. Men and women of the Imperium, the Emperor protects the faithful," General Noriega said, but even for one as experienced as he, it was difficult to keep the trepidation out of the voice.

The vanguard of obliterators and Chaos Terminators annihilated all imperial forces standing before the Daemon Prince. Each second Agnus counted, less and less imperial souls stood between him and the ten thousand years old madman who was so crazy he decided to become a daemon. He winced as the traitor's sword, an obvious phallic symbol that was as long as a baneblade was from front to back including the barrel length of the 'eleven barrels of hell', carved through a Leman Russ Executioner and three Sentinels.

Sanctioned imperial psykers started whipping up a storm about the monstrosity, but the thing didn't even flinch at the small lightning storm that they created. Agnus was the one who flinched when a Commissar put a bullet through one of the psykers.

At least the bodyguards the nobility hired seemed to be competent. Planetary nobles generally had no idea about how dangerous their bodyguards were. They were about to find out today that 'ex-guard' meant surviving twenty plus years of being cannon fodder, and that took an outrageous amount of skill and luck. Even the stormtroopers seemed to have grudging respect for them as they formed a phalanx of hellguns and occasionally bolters, meltas, and plasma guns around him. Agnus shifted himself away from the ones with plasma guns. There really was no telling with imperial plasma guns.

"Archenemy Land Raiders! Three of them! Concentrate armor piercing on them!" General Noriega shouted through the vox. Agnus wondered, not for the first time, if he was biting off more than he could chew that day. The only thing the lunatics hadn't pulled out that day was a Greater Daemon of Chaos. They had nearly half a thousand traitor Astartes by his reckoning, and some of them were even Terminators. Fortunately, most of them had died in the improvised anti-armor traps and the crossfire of the wall defenses, but there were still many in the battle barge.

The only shot the imperials had was to take out the Daemon Prince, the three Land Raiders now reduced to one and a half by an excellent side shot by the Shadowsword and a suicide run by nearly three hundred imperial men, women, and children, and the Emperor-forsaken battle barge that already killed all but four or five imperial ship and was very likely to slaughter its way through said four or five imperial ships.

"After this is over, I'm getting a pretty Sister Hospitaller to give me a physical," Agnus muttered

"… You're on vox, inquisitor," a comm officer said.

"… Strike that from the record. For the record, is there a chapter of the Hospitaller here? Never mind, silly question."

All eyes were now on the Daemon Prince and the cadre of the Imperium's hardest hitting melee shocktroopers approaching it. "Be careful, Jelavich," Agnus voxed. "Alice, as soon as you have a shot. Soldiers of the Imperium, on me!"

Agnus put his implant at half-strength, covering the well-armed 'shooty' people who were crazy enough to follow him into weapons-range of madmen with ten thousand plus years of combat experience. Thankfully, thirteen Leman Russes flanked them, and the Shadowsword watched over them. The imperial artillery was still there, though the traitor Astartes raptors flying overhead would soon fix that. At least the mortars were still rumbling and there were enough guardsmen in the mortar teams that even the squad of ten raptors couldn't go through them quickly enough to affect the firing rate.

"Bless them," Dervis said, looking at the mortar crews fend off, or try to, the raptors with lasguns, bayonets, foul language, and balls of steel.

Some of the vanguard of the imperial offensive were already dead, cut down by the Daemon Prince's sword and the traitor Astartes Terminators.

"Squad broken!" a Sister Superior shouted. Agnus shuddered at the memory of a horrifying melodrama that he had watched about three years ago. It was heresy, beyond heresy, and possibly the product of daemonic influence. The writer was tortured, killed, brought back to life, killed, and turned into a servitor to clean latrines for the rest of his Emperor-forsaken and miserable life. All three generations of his family members were hunted down and given the same fate, guilt by association. His mistress, inquisitor Merigo, was not forgiving of such vile heresy.

"It's time. Ram the Hellhounds, full speed!" Noriega shouted. The imperials halted in their advance for a moment.

The squadrons of Hellhounds that had been lying in ambush went full throttle into the midst of the Chaos vanguard. Jury-rigged explosives, made without the proper sanctioning of a tech-priest but blessed by a certain inquisitor in the throes of desperation, set off a chain reaction that turned the Hellhounds into improvised giant inferno bombs.

Many traitor astartes, lunatics that they were, took to the habit of going to battle without helmets. The idiots soon felt their eyes burning. Further, the flame generated by some fifty three self-destructing Hellhounds evaporated most of the daemons around the focus of the imperial offensive, clearing the path to the Daemon Prince.

Lasguns and heavy ordnance did not work as well as they should on daemons. It had something to do with their origin, primordial, which led to their bane being likewise primordial: fire, blades, blunt instruments, brute force, rituals, psyker powers, and whatnot.

Still, that was in no way enough to kill a Daemon Prince.

"Charge!" anyone with the remotest authority over any other shouted.

There were enough imperial heroes that day for an epic to be written about the battle. Agnus saw a Kriegan grenadier shove a melta in the face, or rather the helmet, of a Chaos Terminator and blow him away. He was missing most of his body lower than his lungs and heart when he accomplished this. An Ogryn was locked in melee with another Terminator in what was literally a fistfight and to Agnus's surprise was winning.

The hordes of Chaos tried to get reinforcements to their Daemon Prince, but were crushed under the debris of what used to be parts of the forty third floor of the hive.

It was then that the Grey Knights truly set about engaging their prey.

Agnus was a little disheartened to see three get cut down without doing much more than peppering the thing with their psycannons, but there were still more than enough Grey Knights to give the imperials a good chance at victory.

"We're winning, men! Push forward for victory! For the Emperor!" Agnus screamed over the din of the battlefield. He had no idea whether that was true but the guardsmen around him at least seemed to perk up more. Lasguns were, in the face of traitor Astartes and Daemon Princes, little better than glorified flashlights; but put together enough flashlights and they could light up a world as effectively as any star. With the support of the Leman Russes' main battle cannons, enough flashlights could harm a Daemon Prince.

It was a little more reassuring to have at least flashlights beside him as Agnus got into the range of the Daemon Prince. The inquisitor powered up his Animus Speculum, the weapon of choice of the Assassins of the Culexus Temple, focusing the negative psyker energies of a blank into a beam of sorts.

The other inquisitor roared his defiance at the Daemon Prince and charged alongside the Grey Knights. Fortunately, Agnus's implants and the Animus Speculum allowed him to direct his blank energies only at the Daemon Prince. The Grey Knights had no problems working whatever psyker energies they possessed.

In any psyker, a blast from an average blank's Animus Speculum would kill him: strip away his soul and destroy it within the warp. A regular daemon would be banished. The target this time was a Daemon Prince, though, and the most it would do would be to stun it.

That was why Alice, using the habitual agility borne by Assassins of the Callidus Temple, bounced on the backs of the Grey Knights, launched herself forward, and fired her autopistol straight into the target's right eye.

Normally, an autopistol round would make the average enemies of the Emperor's servants laugh in genuine humor and cause them to shake their heads about the foolishness of the servants of the 'corpse-Emperor'. The round chambered in that particular autopistol wielded by that particular Assassin, however, was one of twenty four rounds constructed in Forge Karal of Mars, consecrated in the Grey Knights stronghold in Jupiter, and delivered to Agnus only three years ago. Agnus had used one that year against a particularly troublesome Greater Daemon of Nurgle before escaping with inquisitor Merigo and her entourage. An exterminatus was declared on the planet shortly afterwards.

Agnus had undergone a torturous surgery to replace all of his ribs with bionic ones at the whim of his mentor who wanted to test a theory. The theory had some merit. It could stun even a Greater Daemon of Nurgle for enough time that Agnus could work his terrified legs back to the modified Thunderhawk and escape. It did the same to the Daemon Prince, except this time, he was testing another theory.

With the timing and precision born of many practice runs, the beam of negative psyker energy from the inquisitor's Animus Speculum hit more or less the same spot as the bullet.

The Chaos spawn reared its head back, roaring in agony and frustration, and let go of its sword.

"Charge!" Agnus screamed desperately at the Grey Knights. Unlike the time with the Great Unclean one, this time he had under his command forces who could finish the job.

Even in the incredible pain and strain it must have been under trying to maintain its existence on this plane, the Daemon Prince did a lot of damage. It could not use some of its more ferocious daemonic powers, but even on a purely physical level a Daemon Prince was a force to be reckoned with. Agnus winced as a Leman Russ that strayed too close was crushed underfoot. One of the Sororitas Penitent Engines was torn apart by its bare hands. Eight more Grey Knights were killed by its random thrashings of pain.

"It's dying! Finish it!" Agnus egged the imperials forth. The thing tried to retreat, not hesitating to trample its own troops in its desperate attempt to escape, but the Grey Knights were not about to let their prey go. Even the Word Bearers could sense that something had gone terribly wrong, and were retreating in force. Only the most loyal of Terminators had remained by the Daemon Prince's side, and they were too slow to avoid their master's blind rampage.

At the imminent defeat of the Daemon Prince, the imperials rose. Guardsmen, stalwart and brave, charged traitor Astartes with fixed bayonets.

Agnus flinched as a blade came at his throat. It was a Raptor, and Agnus knew then that he was going to die. The thing was too close and he did not have his melee equipment with him. His sniper rifle bought him three seconds, and the life of two guardsmen around him another three. Agnus slumped on the ground on his back, and he knew that not even the Rosarius his mother had given him would get him out of this one.

A las-round, then two, then ten smacked into the side of the traitor's head. The Kriegan grenadier wielding the hellgun responsible proceeded to tackle the disoriented space marine.

His comrades surrounded the astartes and riddled him, and their comrade, with many more lasbolts. They then left, seeking other targets, and Agnus recovered from their disinterested professionalism only when a Kriegan quartermaster came by and stripped his savior of any useful equipment.

"Soldier. Quartermaster!" the Kriegan finally turned to look at the inquisitor. "Give me his ident tag, please."

The quartermaster obliged. A very obedient sort, these Kriegans.

Taking the ident tag, Agnus reoriented himself. The Daemon Prince was finally on his knees, and his helm display told him that thirty seven surviving Grey Knights were finishing him off. He sprinted ahead. The thing was no more than a hundred meters away. Now that he knew that it was dying, or rather getting banished, he wanted to gloat as he watched it die.

The thing was bleeding warp fire and ectoplasm from thousands of wounds, already fading as its powers to maintain its hold on the mortal plane diminished. The bullet and the blast from the Animus Speculum had done their work, loosening its grip on foul Chaos powers.

The Daemon Prince's baleful eyes rested on him, and Agnus swallowed. He was fortunate the Grey Knights couldn't see his face. To be known as a cowardly inquisitor to the militant arm of one's own department promised a short career.

"Dark Apostle Farinax of the Word Bearers," Agnus said in his most solemn voice as the Grey Knights continued to hack away at him. "In the name of the Emperor and His Holy Inquisition, I find you guilty of treason and consorting with daemons. I sentence you to death."

Agnus's Animus Speculum had recharged by then, and he fired straight into the thing's forehead.

* * *

><p>It took days to clear out the rest of the Archenemies from the hive, and probably would take years to properly resanctify it and clear it of all traces of daemonic presence.<p>

The rebellious hive the cultists had poured out of was destroyed on victory day, by a partial exterminatus authorized by inquisitor Khyas and executed by the _Potentate_'s Cyclonic Torpedoes. It was determined that the hive was, for all intents and purposes, lost to the Imperium and presented an unacceptable delay to the Crusade efforts.

It had been a few harrowing weeks to Agnus. He thought he faced certain death, but fortunately that was not the case. There was much profiteering to be had in the aftermath of the victory. The hive needed materials to rebuild, and it was customary for inquisitors to remain and take however long it takes to properly restore a world to the service and industry of the Imperium. Inquisitor Khyas was already gone, Agnus having reassured him that he would take care of the world and see to the end of the Chaos taint in the world.

Agnus was, essentially, the ruler of that world. In a couple of weeks, he would institute the subtle but long-reaching reforms that were the hallmark of his and his mentor's faction in the Inquisition: simple reforms that would increase long-term productivity of the worlds the reconstruction of which they oversaw.

But all that could happen weeks and years from now. Agnus fully intended to slack off and spend at least a couple of years 'rebuilding' the planet and overseeing the formation of a new planetary government as well as the mustering of the first Imperial Guard regiments the world had tithed in a long time. He could find any number of excuses to prolong his stay at the world.

He could also find any number of excuses to make Sephilia stay, mainly to set up trade routes as befitted her duties as a Rogue Trader.

Agnus beamed as the ramp of the Aquila lowered, and saw Sephilia. The future seemed even more unimportant than it usually was to him. He intended to engage in an orgy to impress even Slaneeshi cultists in a few minutes.

He was stunned when she slapped him. Agnus could not think of what offense he could have caused in the mere five seconds he'd seen her.

"That was for putting a thermonuclear bomb in my ship without telling me!" Sephilia said, starting a five minutes long and rage-filled rant that made him cringe like a juvie caught with less than appropriate sexual jokes about the Emperor in his textbook.

"… Are you finished?" Agnus ventured as Sephilia paused for breath.

The kiss was just as sudden as the slap. Agnus responded appropriately, trapping her in his arms.

The rogue trader drew away, regarding him with an oddly awe-struck expression that was saved for her heroes (i.e. not Agnus). "That was for banishing a Daemon Prince."

Agnus suddenly remembered the glowing after-action report meant for the generic planetary authorities of the Imperium in the star system, and the particular emphasis on his heroism in toppling the Daemon Prince. What the report neglected to mention was the name of the author, namely Agnus Crowfeather. He suddenly felt good about writing that hastily-scrawled cock and bull story.

"Well, that does it."

"What are you talking about?"

"We're going to the bridge."

"What for?" Sephilia asked, suspicion growing by the second.

"When I thought I was going to die fighting that Daemon Prince, I realized what I'd regretted the most," Agnus said, scooping her up with his bionic arm's strength.

"What was it?"

"That out of all those times we made love, I've never gotten you pregnant," the inquisitor answered jovially.

"… No," Sephilia said as she realized what he intended to do in the bridge.

"It'll be fun," Agnus promised, grinning a lazy grin that matched his lazy pace. "I've always wanted to try the command throne. Isn't it customary for imperial heroes to be rewarded with a princess?"

That had the intended effect on the Captain. Sephilia was a hopeless romantic, and with the weight of the after-action report, Agnus thought there was a good chance she'd let him do whatever he wanted to do.

"You're taking responsibility?" Sephilia fidgeted, considerably more demure than she had been a minute ago.

"On my honor as a daemonslayer," Agnus responded. His immediate future was looking very bright, and if he spun the words correctly, his career and eventual early retirement was, too.

* * *

><p>Apologies for the extra long wait.<p> 


	7. Roots

Agnus beat a hasty retreat through the hallway, covered by his trusted retainers.

Said retainers must've been addled by the warp, because they were betraying his position to the feared enemy. Wyrie didn't do anything to slow his pursuer's progress, though he had like a trillion arms to aid him. Uran actually cheered his pursuer on. They'd have to be mindwiped and turned into servitors later. Even Jelavich, his Grey Knight, betrayed him.

He ducked aside a confused crewman, no doubt unused to seeing an Inquisitor on the run. Agnus's heart was pounding and he knew then that he should've trained harder. He released the inhibitors of his null powers, making some of his pursuers stumble and recoil from him.

Agnus threw himself in one of the dormitories as soon as he turned a corner. If he couldn't run, he'd have to hide.

The dormitories, he found, were also infested with enemies of mankind.

"Captain, he's in here!" one of the women shrieked, for this was obviously a female dormitory. Others tried to preserve their modesty however they could.

Agnus cursed as he evaded a tackle and tried to make a break for it.

He stopped. His hunter had found him.

Agnus tried to get back in the dorm and lock the door but the now fully dressed women were grinning at him in triumph. More importantly, his hunter was getting closer.

"Get him!" his hunter urged, and the crewwomen obeyed.

"Now, now, ladies, this is all a mistake," Agnus tried to explain, but he was brought to the ground in instants.

Agnus groaned as a very familiar boot came to rest on his stomach.

"At ease. I'll be taking care of this lowlife," his hunter said.

The crewmembers obeyed, bidding their captain good night (as far as 'night' can go in a spacefaring vessel).

"Now," Sephilia purred. "Would you mind explaining just what you've done to my best formal dress? Hmm?"

"I swear, it's not my fault," Agnus began.

"Are you implying that it's mine?" Agnus knew then that he had to tread carefully.

"Of course not, but it's your steward's fault. He didn't regulate the amount of amasec we were having yesterday, you see?"

"So you're saying Jorge, who served me for over forty years now, is at fault?"

Agnus realized that he had taken the wrong track. Sephilia was fiercely loyal to her crew members, even the 'volunteer' gun crews and the toilet cleaners. It might've had something to do with how an inquisitor did not find even a single ally during his valiant escape from the forces that wished the Imperium harm. To harm an inquisitor was to strike a blow at the Emperor.

"No, that was poor wording on my part," Agnus groveled, trying to put the edge of Sephilia's sword away from him. As clumsy as she seemed in everyday life, she was a deadly swordswoman, possibly outstripped on the _Daedalus_ only by the Grey Knight, the Callidus Assassin, and the Executive Officer. "It's the fault of the manufacturer of the amasec. They must have gotten the labels wrong! I'll have them punished appropriately when I-"

Agnus busied himself trying to block the flurry of slaps coming his way. "My father sent it to me from his estates, you bastard!"

"_It was a crime how unlucky I am in choosing excuses today._" Agnus grumbled to himself.

"Didn't. I. Tell. You. I. Have. No. Spare. Formal. Dresses?" Sephilia emphasized her speech with well placed kicks to his shin. She stopped, and a truly ominous tone entered her voice. "You meant to soil it… you did it on purpose, didn't you?"

To be fair, he originally had every intention of ravaging her in the dress, but truthfully he'd forgotten all about it when he became too blindly drunk to consider it. It wasn't his fault that it was torn up somewhat and had bodily fluids on it come morning.

"Bridge to captain, bridge to captain," the overhead vox loudspeakers blared. "We're entering orbit. We also need the inquisitor's ident codes before you kill him."

Sephilia could hear the rest of the bridge sniggering and quaked in barely contained rage as she realized that the story must've spread.

"I'll buy you a new one as soon as we arrive," Agnus promised, hoping it would stop the domestic violence.

Despite being a Rogue Trader, Sephilia paid her employees too well, gave too much to charity, and spent the rest on upgrading her ships. When she didn't receive money from her family, she was usually almost broke.

Agnus, on the other hand, was filthy rich despite having a day job, something that bothered Sephilia greatly. She called him drug-dealer, slaver, and war profiteer, all of which Agnus knew to be true. What she didn't know was that he at least ran his half-legal enterprises efficiently, doing the least damage to the Imperium as possible while providing as many services to its citizens as possible. If he didn't run such businesses, someone else would, and that someone was likely to be far less considerate of the state of the Imperium and her citizens.

Penniless nobles tended to be very touchy about the subject, and she was no exception. Agnus started sprinting towards the bridge, where his presence-alive-was required.

* * *

><p>"Henrietta, Lauren," Agnus spread his arms expectantly.<p>

It was 757.M41, and Agnus had secretly sneaked back to his home planet., Cinna

It would be his hide if his superiors discovered his absence, of course, but Alice was impersonating him back on Aether IV where reconstruction was a little over six months on the way. She was Callidus, and would not fail to impersonate him to perfection.

His baby sisters were now twenty seven and twenty four years old respectively. One almost reached his chin. It was galling. It was hard to believe he was over ten years older than either of them. Agnus's training as interrogator had not taken him back to Cinna. He only met Manfred and Triela on a few occasions for business.

His sisters were also understandably wary of his rosette. That hurt more than all the wounds he had suffered during the past nineteen years combined and then doubled.

"Agnus," his elder brother, Manfred, entered the chamber and proceeded to embrace him. He gave his sisters an encouraging look, which finally caused them to drop their guard, though not entirely. Agnus hugged them and gave what he hoped were reassuring kisses to their foreheads.

For the first time in over two decades, Agnus cried. He kept the shudders to a minimum, not wanting to scare his sisters. It was ironic that they were one of the reasons Agnus had decided to become an inquisitor at all, and now that he was one he knew almost nothing about them. They knew just as little about him, except the one overpowering stigma of the rosette.

It was said that the Imperium subsisted on the blood of martyrs. That much was true. What the survival of the Imperium also cost was the 'normal family life' of her defenders. From the Adeptus Astartes to the lowliest of Penal Legion Guardsmen, none of them were likely to find a sense of normalcy after they took up arms in the name of the Emperor. At least most astartes were mindwiped to not remember their pre-ascension lives. Other soldiers of the Emperor who knew family and normalcy could not forget.

That was why most inquisitors, Commissars, Assassins, Sororitas, Stormtroopers, and other specialists were drawn from the Schola Progenium. Orphans made for the best operatives and soldiers.

Henrietta and Lauren obviously knew what their elder brother was doing, but had the good grace not to say anything or look up at his face. They simply patted his head and back, and it felt deliciously soothing. No doubt they had watched too many holodramas involving returning Guardsmen, although the reality was that the Imperium didn't have enough ships to transport retiring Guardsmen. Manfred was distracting Sephilia, correctly judging that Agnus would view it unseemly for her to see him vulnerable.

Agnus let a couple of minutes pass before he brought his emotions under control. It was unseemly to show his vulnerability to the people he had braved hell to protect.

"I seem to remember changing your diapers," Agnus began. "Looking for your lost toys. Walking the dogs. Helping you on ponies. I see you've grown into fine young ladies."

Manfred chuckled. "I seem to remember changing all of yours."

"Don't bring that up now. We have company," Lauren complained, gesturing at Sephilia. She probably did not know that Sephilia had changed her diapers on more occasions than Agnus and Manfred did combined. Agnus's youngest sibling cut a petite brunette figure, barely reaching his shoulders. Agnus could hardly remember the color of her eyes, though his bionic eye told him immediately that they were green.

He didn't know when he began his association of green with Nurgle, diseases, and other unsavory things but even his greatest efforts couldn't dispel his unease.

"Hello, lady Fairchild," Henrietta performed a well-practiced curtsy. "Thank you for taking care of our brother."

"I only say this for the record, but she's also changed your diapers before," Agnus whispered to the likewise brunette but taller sister. He regretted it instantly. She had a glare to rival his eldest sister, Clarrise's glare.

His siblings and Sephilia continued to exchange small-talk that led to both parties apologizing for the uncouthness of Agnus's behavior and the vulgarity of his speech unbecoming of an inquisitor. Agnus took solace in the fact that his sisters seemed to be overcoming their fear of him in his capacity as inquisitor.

The entire Crowfeather family, the extended one, was gathering at Cinna for the heiress's marriage. Clarisse had finally found a man she judged useful enough. Agnus was invited as a guest of honor, his eldest sister judging the revelation of an inquisitor in the family to be advantageous in the marriage-contract. They delayed the marriage by months so he could make it.

For his part, Agnus decided it would be a good opportunity to ask his parents for permission to wed Sephilia. Their approval was a given. Sephilia's family was as blue-blooded as it came. He'd worry considerably more about the detour to Segmentum Pacificus Fleet Headquarters to ask her parents for permission. He supposed his rosette would help if it came to that.

"Inquisitor Agnus."

Agnus turned to see his father. That was surprising; he thought his father would consider picking him up at the space port to be beneath him. "Sir."

What worried him more was how low his father was bowing. Agnus bowed even lower, just in case.

"Father, it's just Agnus," Manfred rolled his eyes.

His father's eyes narrowed at Manfred. "Yes, it is just Agnus. An inquisitor with the power to consign an entire planet to oblivion. The savior of a hive world during a crucial juncture in a Crusade. A hero of the Imperium. Yes, Manfred. I realize it is just Agnus."

Agnus thought that speech contained more compliments for him than his father had cared to utter in all of eighteen years before he was dragged off by inquisitor Merigo. He was fairly certain his face was red with embarrassment.

"How did you know that, father?"

"No greater gossipers than merchants," he shrugged. "Your mother and other sisters couldn't be here. They're busy preparing for the wedding. Some kind of womanish nonsense."

Henrietta and Lauren groaned. It was quite clear that they wanted to be part of that womanish nonsense.

"Well, after a siege by hundreds of traitor astartes, I could do with some womanish nonsense," Agnus said, becoming his little sisters' hero both for the lie and the part about rejoining their mother and sisters as soon as possible.

"You defeated traitor astartes?" Henrietta asked. It was obvious they never reckoned inquisitors to be imperial heroes. Those parts were usually given to space marines, commissars, regular guardsmen, but almost never an inquisitor in the vast library of holodramas of the Imperium.

"In a duel?" Lauren was considerably more excitable, and naïve.

"You do realize that few humans can stand up to ten-thousand years old gene-enhanced madmen in power armor, right?" Agnus raised an eyebrow.

To his surprise, it was Sephilia who encouraged them. "Your brother banished a Daemon Prince of Chaos, the leader of that band of ten-thousand years old madmen. He saved a vital supply line of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade."

That wasn't at all true, of course. The Grey Knights did most of the grunt work involved. He just took credit for it in a report written for the benefit of non-inquisitorial but imperial authorities.

"Lady Fairchild," Agnus's father bowed to Sephilia, as if seeing her for the first time. "Erm… if it isn't too pertinent to ask… why are you in armor?"

Sephilia blushed a deep shade of scarlet that threatened to become purple.

Agnus hurriedly spun a tale. "Very long story. All suitably heroic. Her wardrobes were destroyed when the _Daedalus_ was boarded by traitor astartes. Savages. Her ship killed an Archenemy battle barge the very same day."

Sephilia did not look happy at the deception, but she also seemed relieved that she did not have to explain. Henrietta and Lauren murmured in sympathy. No doubt they were imagining her wardrobe to be something to rival or surpass their own wardrobes. If their wardrobes in childhood were any indication, they probably owned enough clothes to fill every nook and cranny of the _Daedalus_. Agnus was exaggerating, of course, but only a little.

"I think my own clothes would fit you well enough, lady Fairchild," said Lauren, contemplating Sephilia's figure. Agnus would've taken on another Daemon Prince to forget that line. His mind struggled to deny the connection between the two shapes. He didn't care how many Slaaneshi cultists he saw in his career, but his little sisters were purer than imperial battle-saints. Woe betides anyone who might imply otherwise. Agnus would send them to Jupiter on suspicion of daemonic possession.

"More like Triela's," said Henrietta, sending Agnus into another desperate battle to forget and not draw inferences. Agnus wondered if he was getting influenced by the Slaaneshi, but that was literally impossible. He was a blank, one deemed soulless.

"Let's move on, shall we? We can buy something on the way."

"Why? Are you sleeping with her?" Lauren whispered, obviously recognizing how uncomfortable he was.

"I don't kiss and tell," Agnus whispered back. It was clear by now that his sisters were not as innocent as he had dreamed.

"We'll pick out some nice clothes for her," Henrietta promised.

"Do you prefer really revealing ones, tight ones, or ones that only show a bit of skin?" Lauren grinned as she asked, beckoning to Sephilia.

"The latter, please, she feels uncomfortable on the ground as it is," Agnus conspired. He'd been to too many brothels to enjoy the particularly revealing ones. "She responds well to good food."

"Lady Fairchild, may I call you Sephilia? We'll be taking you to the shopping district," Henrietta accosted the approaching captain by the arm. Lauren did the same to the other arm. "We'll then go to a concert hosted by the governor."

Sephilia blushed an even starker shade of red. "Really? But I don't have any credits with me."

"Don't be silly. You're our guest," Agnus's father said. "What is ours is yours."

Of course, Agnus knew his father viewed such expenses as an investment more than a hospitality issue. He had enough credits to buy a planet. He wanted his children to marry up more than he wanted the credits.

"Have fun," Agnus smiled reassuringly at Sephilia and waved at the three. He hoped their definition of fun wasn't too kinky or like his own, but dared not ask.

"… So, proposed yet?" Manfred asked as soon as the trio had left.

"Of a sort."

"Did she accept?" his father asked.

"Sort of, yes."

"You have my blessing."

"I suspected as much. What're we doing?"

His father sighed. "Your mother insists on my coming for at least an hour. You're to come with me and distract them after I leave. Surely the Inquisition has taught you a few things in that regard?"

"A few tricks like that, sure."

"Did you really banish that Daemon Prince?"

"Hmm… I struck the last blow?"

His father raised an eyebrow.

"The Grey Knights did most of the work," Agnus admitted.

"Next time, don't write like you usually write. They might find out," his father advised.

"Yes, sir."

"So, I suppose you want to know why I summoned you?"

"You? I thought it was Clarisse."

"Of course not. We delayed her marriage for months for you."

"Your point being?"

"Your sister's soon-to-be husband is the new patriarch of the Jabroni Cartel. I want you to accuse him of heresy."

"… Excuse me?"

"Just accuse him of heresy. You're an inquisitor right? You don't need any proof, right?"

"Wait a minute. Does Clarisse know about this?" Agnus was appalled. He knew his father had ulterior motives but didn't suspect it was this selfish.

"Course not," his father frowned. "Surely the Inquisition taught you a few things about operational security?"

"Yeah… about that, they also taught me a few things about not abusing our power."

Agnus's father shut his mouth as Henrietta walked back in. "Agnus, what're you doing?"

"Er… what're you doing? I thought you were going shopping."

"We are," she frowned. "But who's going to pay for our purchases?"

Agnus and his father simultaneously pointed at each other.

"Don't be ridiculous. You missed nineteen of my birthdays. You're going to buy me enough things today to make up for it."

"I never got a birthday present from Manfred or Triela or Clarisse for nineteen years, either!"

Henrietta rolled her eyes. "That's your problem. Now come on."

* * *

><p>Agnus had too many problems to enjoy going shopping with the girls. Granted, Sephilia was his love and the other two were his baby sisters, but waiting on women for hours to shop was exhausting. He didn't understand why they couldn't tell immediately what they wanted. They had to try everything, and comb over every inch of the department store. He knew immediately the one thing he wanted and purchased it, a replica of a Commissar's hat with 'BLAM!' written where the aquila would usually be, in a minute.<p>

They were currently raiding the jewelry store, and his sisters were playing a game of 'let's spend everything on Agnus's card'. It was a fun game, or so he was told.

Agnus worked his butt off, risked life and limbs, to earn his credits despite his day job. He was in danger of losing a great deal of credits. He thought he might even have to borrow from his own loan sharks. Now that would be embarrassing.

"Brother, do these look good on me?" Henrietta asked, smiling contentedly.

If he had stayed with his family the past nineteen years, Agnus would have said 'no' with great emphasis and repeatedly. As he was, however, he felt terribly guilty and the look on Henrietta's face wasn't helping.

"Of course, dear," he coughed out a reply.

She proceeded to the cash register with a pair of earrings, a bracelet, and a necklace. By Agnus's estimate, and he'd been in the business of smuggling gems, precious stones, and whatnot long enough to make decent guesses, his 'dear' sister had just cost him about twenty million credits. His stomach churned as his other sister cost him another twelve million credits.

An employee approached him with the bill. Agnus sighed and handed her a card. He walked over to Sephilia so they could leave.

Sephilia was in a new dress she'd purchased for his sister's wedding and the concert. If not for the blue thing's accentuating her beauty, Agnus might have begrudged the cost of the dress.

Now she was staring at a handsome aquila necklace that Agnus knew would be ruinously expensive.

"Looking forward to bankrupting me, I see?" Agnus teased.

"I-I'm just looking," Sephilia sputtered.

Now that Agnus thought about it, she hadn't been properly rewarded for the fleet action six months ago. It wasn't every day that a freshly minted captain led a light cruiser against a battle barge and survived. Agnus was hailed as savior of the hive and received many gifts. Sephilia remained in space, and the accolades meant for her were given to him as well.

Thanks to such connections, Aether IV was now a solid base of operations and industrial production for the Crowfeather Cartel to operate in the Sabbat Worlds.

"Do you want it?" As expected, Sephilia couldn't answer.

"Excuse me," Agnus beckoned at one of the attendants, probably the owner of the store. The portly and middle-aged man was already beyond pleased at the sales revenue that day, and was eager to serve.

"A handsome piece, sir. Simple but elegant. For the lady?" the man knew what piece Agnus had summoned him for. One did not get by in the business by being an unobservant dickwad.

"She's 'just looking', as it were," Agnus started his game.

"Well, it'd be a great gift, master. For an anniversary, perhaps? Emperor's Day is only three days away," the man recognized the game and started playing along.

"What's the price range for it?"

"My wife would say no less than thirty million credits," the merchant said in a conspiring tone. "But for the lady, twenty eight."

"She's a Rogue Trader, you know. Recently defeated a traitor astartes battle barge," Agnus carried on conversationally. The merchant already knew who he was, minus the rosette. Information on customers was key in the business of luxury goods, and he knew the merchant knew before he stepped foot in the store. If not, he certainly knew as soon as Agnus had used his card.

Sephilia blushed in pride and embarrassment, letting the merchant know Agnus's tale was likely true. It was so useful to have a person who didn't know how to lie.

"Really? Where?"

"Aether IV. They opened a new Crusade there. Segmentum Pacificus."

"Ah, back from a business trip?"

"You can say that."

"Lady Triela has mentioned you a few times, milord. Says she's concerned for your safety in all these rebellions, crusades."

Agnus chuckled at the irony of spending his hard-earned credits in one of Triela's stores. "Is there a family discount?"

The merchant raised an eyebrow. Agnus nodded in sympathy. His second eldest sister was a notorious penny-pincher.

"Still, for a heroine of the Imperium, twenty seven million," the merchant said, audibly enough for Sephilia to hear.

"I'll take it."

"Agnus," Sephilia complained.

"Oh, don't worry. I intend to make sure you make up for it, one way or another," Agnus grinned.

Just as the Captain went into a tirade about his dubious morality, Agnus saw one of the shoppers staring at him quite intently. The man slowly shifted his gaze elsewhere, but Agnus suspected that he was observing him.

Agnus glanced around, and saw two others who had been staring at him. One averted his gaze immediately, but the other did not.

He was being watched.

"Sephilia, go with my sisters and buy some new clothes. I need to attend to business."

"What about the necklace, master?" the merchant asked.

"I'll take it. Wrap it up and deliver it to my home." Agnus looked around to find a secluded spot that would make it difficult for eavesdroppers to approach. Fortunately there was a lho-stick balcony that was unoccupied for the moment.

Agnus voxed his faithful butler, and after a few seconds of static got through. "Yes, master?"

"Something's awry, Fred… I might have a situation down here. Send for Gargg and his boys up there. I might need to use them. Arm them to the teeth. Actually, send everyone. Wyrie, Uran, and Commissar Loken, too. Oh, send for my new recruits, too, Jellal and M'tal. I need a couple of gunmen who can blend in with the crowd. Don't forget the _Omnis Invictus_."

"The _Omnis Invictus_? Is there going to be a full-scale war on Cinna?" Fred sounded as alarmed as he should be.

During the final battle against the Word Bearers, one of the enemy Land Raiders had gotten away relatively unscathed, only suffering a gaping hole in the side which was breached by one of the Grey Knights, who promptly proceeded to slaughter everyone in the super-heavy transport.

It turned out that it was a recently captured imperial Land Raider belonging to some space marine chapter Agnus had never heard of somewhere around the Eye of Terror. Agnus would be damned before he came within three months' worth of warp travel to the Eye, and he'd also be damned if he passed up on a free Land Raider that had hardly any corruption at all. A Mechanicus team and an inquisitorial decontamination team had gone through it and had assured him it was safe to put back in the hands of its original owners.

Agnus did not care to mention that he wasn't going to hand it back to its original owners in a million years. He wanted it. He had specifically recruited the tattered remains of the Vostroyans' Ogryn squads, a bone'ead and some seven Ogryns, and a newly graduated Commissar just because he wanted to put something in it. It helped that Sephilia managed to lose a couple of fighter crafts and thus had space in the hangar. Now it smelled like Ogryn, but that was fine. Agnus preferred Salamanders anyways. Super-heavies always attracted the brunt of incoming fire.

Theoretically, an inquisitor had command over all imperial forces in a given area. That said, there were some who thought themselves exceptions to the rule. It was always best for an inquisitor like Agnus-as he'd usually be sent places in official and quite public capacities-to keep a small but powerful private army. He was so impressed with the Kriegan grenadiers who had saved his arse at least ten times in Aether IV that he requisitioned six of them as well. People you'd avoid like the plague at a party, but damnably handy in a firefight.

"I think not, but it can't hurt to take cautions. Send for Dervis and his squad, along with their Rhino. Bring my Salamander, too, and be all sneaky-like about it. I don't want anyone to know."

"What about your father?"

"It might be my father, for all I know. Someone's hired some thugs to keep an eye on me, and they're the relatively expensive kind."

"Perhaps you're overreacting, master?"

"I hope for my sake that you're right. If it's the Inquisition, I can't afford to let them know I've skipped town for personal reasons. If it's a rival cartel, I dislike spies. If it's a band of heretics, I have the perfect excuse to stay in Cinna for, well, years!" Agnus fervently hoped the latter was the case. Unlike Merigo, he'd stay behind for years to 'reform' and 'oversee reconstruction'. He hoped no other inquisitor thought similar ideas or the Imperium would surely fall within the century.

Lauren jumped out of nowhere. "Who're you voxing?"

"Fred. You remember Fred, my butler?"

"Oh. Yeah. What're you voxing him about?"

Agnus put on his most solemn and vaguely heroic face. "Classified. Inquisitorial business. Authorized personnel only."

Lauren giggled. "That sounds suitably inquisitorial."

Agnus felt the God-Emperor was watching over him, because he got a brilliant idea. As daughters of the Crowfeather Cartel, Lauren and Henrietta had to have scores of bodyguards. If the people spying on him were rival Cartel employees or heretics, they would have much less suspicion and surveillance on the younger siblings' forces. If the people were of the Inquisition, he was pretty much screwed anyways.

He drew Lauren in with a tight hug, and whispered. "Don't be alarmed, and listen carefully."

"… What is it?"

"There're a few people in the department store who've been spying on me. They're good. I didn't notice until about ten minutes ago. No! Don't look in that direction."

"Agnus, are they dangerous?" contrary to his orders, Lauren seemed quite alarmed.

"Calm down, Lauren. I can banish daemons. I'm not about to let you come to harm from mere humans. You silly, silly girl."

"Don't call me a silly girl," Lauren pouted.

"Anyhow, how many bodyguards do you and Henrietta have under your direct command? Not the House troops. Yours."

"Uhmm… fifty?"

"… You don't know, do you?"

"No," Lauren looked sad to disappoint him. Agnus thought he had to be the worst brother ever.

"Does Henrietta know?"

"Probably?" Lauren didn't look too hopeful.

"Well, I have a feeling that if they're the people I suspect, they won't pay as much attention to the younger siblings' troops."

"Who do you-"

"Rival cartels, heretics, that sort of thing. Very common and nothing to worry about if you take certain precautions," Agnus dismissed. It was important that she did not panic. "Now, I want you to go and get changed, pick out anything you want-fine, I'm buying-and get into the same dressing room as your sister. Contact your head of security and hers, and get them loaded on transports and battle-ready. They are not to contact anyone without your permissions on the pain of death. Did you get all that?"

Lauren nodded.

"Good. Now, act all natural. Give me a kiss on the cheek and go. Don't hurry."

"Uh… do I have-"

"Oh, totally. I have the cutest baby sister in the world and it would do wonders for my morale to get a kiss from her," Agnus grinned, ruffling her head.

Lauren rolled her eyes but acquiesced. Agnus followed after a heartbeat.

Unfortunately, Lauren wasn't an expert operator and accosted Henrietta a little too hurriedly for Agnus's tastes. Under the circumstances, though, he doubted the enemies of his family or heretics would take any sort of keen interest in two rich brats. If the conflict came down to any sort of an open confrontation, that was going to be the cause of their defeat. Agnus expected to have the entire criminal network of the planet and the majority of the PDF under his command if worse came to worst. Again, if his watchers were the Inquisition, he was screwed.

"Is anything wrong, Agnus?"

Sephilia was stunning as usual, and as annoyingly perceptive as usual. Agnus could see from the tag on her clothes that he was about to be set back some hundred and thirty thousand imperial credits. Agnus almost threw up.

It didn't matter, though. The only currency that mattered in the Imperium, ultimately, was blood. Further, he wouldn't mind taking her to one of the changing rooms right now and having his way with her.

"A slight hickey. Nothing that you should be concerned about. Are you having fun?"

"Your sisters have very expensive taste, Agnus. I'm worried about the burden on you," Sephilia frowned.

Agnus raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you the one who said that's all 'merchant types' like me are good for?"

Sephilia's glare was effective enough to get him to apologize. Sephilia herself almost never apologized. She was too proud, and enjoyed watching him grovel..

"You're going to have to buy this outfit if you want to apologize," Sephilia sniffed.

"With pleasure, milady," Agnus moved as quickly as possible to wrap his arms around her and drew her in for a kiss. Only, he stopped and whispered, "calm down. Listen and don't speak out loud. My family's in danger. Do you want to return to the _Daedalus_?"

The expected answer was given. "Of course not. I am a guest. Your family is my host."

"Good. I'll give you my card. Pay for your clothes, and go to the bathroom. Summon a squad of your best armsmen. My butler should have some extra weapons available for them."

"Do you have a sword?"

"Eh? I do, but what does-"

"I am an excellent fencer, Agnus Crowfeather."

That was true. If she wanted to stay in harm's way, he might as well arm her as best as possible.

"Are xenos designs okay?" Agnus found out early in his career that xenos generally had superior weaponry compared to humans. The Necrons had their green and glowing guns. The Tau had their plasma weaponry. The Eldar had light-weight power swords and excellent weaponry all around. The Imperium survived by strength in numbers, genetic alterations, and ludicrously overcompensating weapons.

"Of course not!" she hissed. While Sephilia made exceptions for some of the more useful devices she encountered in her career as Rogue Trader, using personal xenos weapons was too much.

"It'll have to be a regular sword, then. I doubt you can use a chainsword effectively."

"Can't I just get my own?"

"It'll raise flags at customs. I'll get Fred to arrange it if possible," Agnus shook his head and gave her his card. Now that he thought about it, there were billions of credits in that card. He never considered himself a miser but he knew how difficult it was to generate that much credits. If his sisters continued to lead Sephilia on, he might find one of his accounts empty within the day. He choked as he realized that Sephilia's new clothes might cost a hundred and thirty thousand, but her new shoes cost five hundred thousand credits.

His sudden delirium grew a hundred times worse when he found his sisters carrying out some seventy five million credits' worth of purchases, and swiped his card with complete nonchalance. Agnus figured he'd have to give up his dreams of that perfect yacht he'd been planning to buy for half a year. He could've bought a couple of STC pattern Rhinos, full with customized dozer blades and hunter-killer missile launchers with that kind of money.

Agnus grumbled good-naturedly, maintaining the illusion that nothing was awry to the observers. He breathed a sigh of relief as he and his charges got on the armored convoy full to the brim with bodyguards.

* * *

><p>The governor, and Agnus's sisters, apparently had a different point of view as to what constituted a concert. It was apparently a meet and greet for the high and mighty of the paradise world.<p>

Agnus would've paid a billion credits to watch one, just one, minor daemon of the Dark Gods to materialize and slaughter its way merrily through the throngs of hedonists gathered at the main opera house of Cinna. Unfortunately, the God-Emperor did not see fit to answer his prayers.

Paradise worlds always ran the risk of danger in the form of Slaaneshi cults. It was good to remind them every once in a while that the Imperium was at an unending war. Several unending wars, to be precise. The revelation seemed to depress most of the gakkers he had short conversations with.

Again, Agnus felt the pinprick of watching eyes.

"What's the matter?" Lauren asked, worry evident in her tone.

"Nothing you need to worry about," Agnus smiled as he escorted her to her seat on the balcony reserved for his family. Still, he placed himself in the rearmost row on the balcony.

He had two clips left for his silenced Exitus pistol, his null-powers, and caraprace armor under his formal. The three bodyguards who'd accompanied them were armed with lasguns, laspistols, and shock mauls.

Nothing eventful happened, and the concert began. Agnus winced at the governor's taste in music. It was 'country', the bane of civilization. Only Sororitas devotionals to the Emps could be worse.

Agnus searched for people watching him instead. The magnoculars designed for viewing the show were most useful in this regard. He briefly ran over the corpulent form of the governor. He'd gotten even fatter in the nineteen years Agnus hadn't been in Cinna.

He shifted his gaze to the balconies without warning. The Jabroni Cartel's balcony, however, held nothing of note for him. It was more likely, then, that the watchers were heretics.

Agnus pretended to shift his focus back on the concert, and then switched back to his immediate right, where all four occupants of the balcony were watching him. He calmly pretended not to notice and scanned other balconies.

"Sephilia, draw the curtains," he instructed. She obeyed without hesitation. It was unlikely she knew, but the curtains were mainly drawn to cover sexual activities.

"Agnus," Henrietta groaned, likely thinking along the same lines.

"You three, stay here. Do not open the door unless the word is given, and the word is… um… purgatus," Agnus instructed his sisters and Sephilia. He turned to the bodyguards. "Tell me what implants and experience you have."

One was ex-Arbites, another was ex-Guard, and the last was ex-ganger. They had the typical implants expected of House troops. Agnus took the ganger's shock maul, judging it to be unlikely to be useful in the ganger's hands. Having been on the receiving side of it most times, he suspected that the shock maul gave the ex-ganger the creeps. He gave him his spare hotshot laspistol instead.

"Power settings to maximum, but try to take one alive. Our enemies are in the balcony to our right. Storm speed. If they have psykers, I'm a blank. Stick close to me."

The bodyguards answered in the affirmative. At least they knew why they were paid.

"That sounds quite serious, Agnus," Sephilia hissed.

"Routine stuff. Nothing to worry about. Remember, do not leave until I come back," with that, Agnus exited the room.

Only to find the four walking towards him. Both sides froze for an instant.

The four started producing weapons.

Agnus fired his Exitus pistol, his reaction-time implants saving his life as he pulled his head back through the door. Thankfully, the round hit center of mass and the enemies were reduced to three.

"Ready weapons," Agnus snarled at the guards. "You three, get down and stay down. Do not move."

While Agnus was barking orders, he almost found himself face to face with one of the heretics. Only the timely intervention of the ex-Arbites and his shock maul saved Agnus from a more personal encounter with the assailant's long knife.

Agnus switched off his inhibitor fully, throwing back the assailant who was right behind the recently electrocuted one. Disciplined lasrounds from his other two guards perforated his skull.

The last of the would-be assassins ran away.

Agnus felt a terrible headache. He had suspicions. The assassins were too quick and agile, especially given the speed with which they closed the distance and the speed with which the last of them was running away. He used three more rounds to make sure his assailants were dead, and then gingerly tore the closest one's shirt.

His suspicions were correct. They weren't human. He'd only seen them on the space hulk he'd been dragged to many years ago.

The Purestrains of their kind were capable of ripping apart Adeptus Astartes Terminators. They were the ones who summoned Hive Fleet Behemoth, the only enemy ever to threaten Macragge with extinction.

"You two, stay behind and clean up the mess. Do not let the authorities know. Use whatever bribes you must. The rest of you, we're getting out of here."

* * *

><p>"Five to one," the vox crackled.<p>

"One to five," Agnus responded. "What's the matter?"

"We have company."

"One to all, prepare for battle," Agnus snarled.

The convoy of six vans carrying Agnus and his charges to the cathedral were on a highway. Excluding them, about thirty armsmen and drivers were accompanying them.

Agnus voxed Fred, "Fred, I need the stormtroopers, the Rhino, and the Salamander here now. We're on route 91, near the third promethium station with that Emps Burger place."

"Not the _Omnis Invictus_?"

"Negative. Too early to show all of my cards."

"Roger that. Get off the highway at exit 15 and head straight. ETA eight minutes, or so your techpriest says."

Agnus got off the vox with his butler, and issued commands to the convoy. "One to all units, standby to escape via exit 15."

He was fairly certain he was the primary target. The Genestealer that got away would have identified him as the greatest threat to the brood's secrecy, and for good reason. Not only did he see them, but he was also a blank, capable of cutting off synaptic communications between Tyranid units. Agnus rolled down the window and stuck his head out to snap a few shots with his Exitus pistol at the tires of the leading enemy transport. He didn't hit anything, of course, but the Tyranids had seen him.

"One to two, carry on to my family's estate with a detour via exit 16. By the authority of His Majesty's Holy Inquisition, you are not to stop for whatever reasons until you've reached safety. You are to ignore all of your passengers' orders to the contrary. Your passengers are to be treated as priority strategic assets for the successful campaign of the Inquisition. Understood?"

"Affirmative, inquisitor," the driver said, likely ex-Guard. There was great demand for former Guardsmen or deserters in the business of security. Even if the driver didn't believe he was an inquisitor, he was still his employer.

Four of the vehicles in the convoy left via exit 15 while one sped on the highway. Blocked by three cars, the Genestealers could not follow the vehicle carrying Agnus's family.

"One, five. Permission granted for escalation of conflict. Keep to the right lane and target the middle of the hostile column. One, four. Keep to the middle lane and cover five. One, three. Scout ahead and prepare to make a barricade in the right lane on my mark."

A man emerged, up to his shoulders, out of the top of the rearmost of imperial-held vehicles. A grenade launcher appeared and hit one of the vehicles in the middle of the Genestealer-held convoy, shredding the tires.

The Genestealers opened fire with whatever small arms they had, but that was just a distraction. One of the beasts had hold of a missile launcher.

Time slowed for Agnus as the missile tore through one of his armored vans.

"Five, four is down," another grenade was launched from five, and this time it hit the front-most of the Genestealer-convoy squarely, exploding it.

"Possible enemy contact!" Agnus's own driver shouted.

Agnus switched places with the guy riding shotgun, and saw that it was his savior.

Jelavich powered his bike through the enemy convoy, lashing out to destroy three of the vehicles with his force-halberd.

The Genestealers mounted a desperate offense, and some of the luckiest shots Agnus had ever seen struck the tires of the rearmost of his own convoy.

"One, three. Mark. Spread out and prepare for small-arms exchange."

"What about us?" the driver asked.

"We'll join three. One, all. The enemies are Genestealers. They're Tyranids. Concentrate fire on the bigger ones; it'll make them scatter. Do not bother wasting shots on limbs. Headshots and center of mass shots only."

Agnus soon saw where his third van had set up a barricade, and directed his own driver to park next to it.

"Go, go, go!" Agnus shouted, and his guards leapt out of the van.

Agnus saw through his bionic eye, zoomed to allow better vision, that Jelavich was returning. He had thought him dead, but the Genestealers weren't exactly built for high-speed vehicular combat.

"Inquisitor! Orders!"

Agnus realized that it was Dervis who had voxed him. He and his squad of eight Kriegan Grenadiers would be of great use in the battle. The Rhino would add a heavy bolter and a multi-melta into the equation as well. Wyrie had to be driving the Salamander, which carried Jellal and M'Tal, two of the finest gangers he could find in Aether IV. That would add a storm bolter and another heavy bolter to the balance of power, along with whatever combat servitors Wyrie decided to bring. Uran had a lascannon and a heavy bolter attached to his exoskeleton.

Jelavich's halberd cut through two more vehicles on the way before he overtook the enemy convoy, which still had eleven assorted vehicles.

"Block the road completely with the Rhino and the Salamander," Agnus ordered. "Jelavich, suppressing fire with the bolters. House troops, aim at their wheels."

A spattering of las-fire emerged from the imperial line. Realizing perhaps that they needed to regroup and think, the Genestealers slowed their vehicles to a halt, preparing their own line.

Two of the House troops had mounted an autocannon on one of the vehicles, and blazed away merrily at the xenos.

The xenos threw grenades.

"Grenades!" one of the bodyguards screamed.

Another bodyguard jumped on one, reached out for two others, and scrambled them beneath his bulk. The echo of a crump told Agnus that he was dead. He probably had family to feed, and Agnus's father paid those who sacrificed for the Cartel well.

The Salamander was the first to arrive, and out of its ramp came two combat servitors armed with multi-lasers and bolters. Uran and M'tal took cover behind the bulky amalgams of flesh and machine. Wyrie continued providing support fire with the in-built heavy bolter and Jellal fired with the pintle-mounted storm bolter.

Agnus reckoned that most of the Genestealers had to be third and fourth generation, almost indistinguishable from humans. Otherwise, they would've just charged on with their entire convoy so as to put themselves at melee range. They obviously hadn't reckoned with the arrival of imperial reinforcements.

"You alright, Agnus?" Uran called out conversationally, getting closer along with the two servitors.

"Less talking and more bolts!" Agnus screamed as more las-rounds zipped over him.

"Purestrain!" Jelavich shouted.

"Concentrate fire on the big ones!" Agnus couldn't see but he'd have to take the Grey Knight's word for it.

Several Purestrain Genestealers had flanked their line while the third and fourth generation ones distracted them. Despite the advantage in firepower, the imperials had only succeeded in bringing down perhaps a fifth of the Genestealer force.

"Fire in the hole!" Agnus and three of his bodyguards threw grenades at the charging Purestrains, six of them. One fell in a mass of mangled flesh. The others continued on despite missing limbs.

Agnus turned off his inhibitor fully. The imperials around him were bothered but not nearly as much as the Purestrains were bothered.

The Rhino carrying Dervis and the Kriegan Grenadiers arrived in the nick of time. Disciplined hellgun volleys cut down the Purestrains, and the last of them was finished off with a blast from a meltagun.

The Genestealers realized that their final gambit had failed, and started to retreat. The combined weight of the many heavy weapons Agnus had under his command, however, ripped their vehicles into shreds. In the end, only three or four out of the force of at least three score Genestealers escaped.

"… Maybe it's time to let the governor know of the situation," Wyrie said as Agnus entered the Salamander.

"You've dabbled in xenobiology, Wyrie. What can you tell me?"

"About xenobiology concerning the Genestealers? No more than you know, at least not the parts that matter. In terms of long-term implications, however, the size of that nest of Genestealers suggests many decades, perhaps even a century, of dormancy. They're sent to attract hive fleets, but Hive Fleet Behemoth was destroyed by Adeptus Astartes Legio XIII at Maccrage. It is likely they're awaiting the next one, if such a thing exists. We have no evidence to suggest that Behemoth was the last of them, after all."

"The next one?" Agnus shivered. Hive Fleet Behemoth wiped out the entirety of the Ultramarines' First Company and many worlds besides. He wasn't sure the Imperium could survive other Hive Fleets.

"And Cinna is too deep in Segmentum Solar. It's impossible that a splinter fleet reaches here undetected. However, given enough time and patience, Genestealers have been known to replace entire populations. We need quarantines, road-blocks, martial law, gene-scans-"

"Alright, alright!" Agnus snapped. He didn't want to reveal his official presence, but it looked as though he'd be forced to. Even before the arrival of Hive Fleet Behemoth, Genestealers wreaked havoc on the Imperium's fringe colonies, fomenting rebellions wherever they went. His masters in the Inquisition might even praise him for stopping the infection from further taking place.

It looked as though his vacation would be cut short, after all.


	8. The Canker

Sometimes, Agnus wished the Imperium would burn.

All of it, including Terra, and especially the Administratum, the Munitorum, the Mechanicus, the Ministorum, and the hereditary governors that most worlds of the Imperium were cursed with. Maybe the Astartes, too, half of which betrayed the fething Emperor. Humanity had one hell of a fallible god, and it was galling that he was the only choice humanity had for survival.

"Governor Darius, the request I'm making should not be difficult at all for you to carry out," Agnus said, sipping on the expensive amasec that the governor had offered. "You are a planetary governor. This is your world to do whatever you please as entrusted to you by the Emperor; except the tithe of course."

"O-of course, inquisitor," there had been a deluge of scrapping and bowing when Agnus had revealed his rosette. It was really one of the surest ways to ensure that the human was not infected by the Genestealers. Of course, he and the powers that be of the planet had undergone testing immediately.

Of the tens of thousands of test subjects, a dozen had been found infected. That wasn't too bad, considering. Genestealer influence usually spread over the easier to miss lower orders first, after all.

"However," the morbidly obese and bald man nearing his hundred and seventieth year continued. "Forgive me, inquisitor, but my councilors, the incompetent fools that they are, have seriously neglected the training and arming of the Planetary Defense Force!"

"… You do realize keeping an adequate PDF is one of the precious few things the Emperor asks of you, do you not?" Agnus heard an audible gulp.

"I recognize my failure," the governor bowed his head. Like most, governor Darius knew to show proper contrition before an inquisitor. Likely he'd take it out on his servants and concubines later, several of whom were formed in a loose circle around him in an obvious attempt to placate him. "It is just that my incompetent underlings have blinded me to this miserable state! Had I known that basic training consisted of firing a lasgun five times and that rampant corruption allowed soldiers to skip their duties, I would-"

"That is all very well and good, governor," Agnus held up his hand, and sipped more amasec. The quality of the drink was practically the only thing that was providing him the edge he needed to refrain from blowing Darius's head off and raping all of his concubines, save that he had little desire to bed women who'd have such low standards as to bed Darius. Who knew whatever STD filled manwhores they'd slept with? "But what I want to know is what you intend to do about it."

"Y-your excellency is not here to judge me?"

"No, no, if this situation is resolved as cost-effectively as possible, meaning no Guard reinforcements, I have half a mind to even commend your performance to my Ordo. You should think of me, not as your Commissar, but as your very best friend," Agnus kept his tone even enough to let Darius know that, if he did not perform satisfactorily, he'd do what Commissars did to incompetent soldiers.

"Thank you, thank you, sir. You won't regret this, I promise you. I knew a scion of the Crowfeather Cartel had to be a reasonable man," that much was true. Too many in his Ordo were too trigger happy for their good.

"Of course, governor. My family gained its fortune here. I was born in Cinna, you know. I will do whatever I must to keep it a Paradise World the Emperor would be proud of. Therefore, as I said earlier, declare census and martial law tomorrow morning. Have the PDF tested first, and shoot the xenos-tainted ones. The Arbites will be more than willing to assist you. Then, and you will have to be more delicate with this one, test and then advise the senior Magos in charge of the Mechanicus operations on this planet. Within the day, you will seize everything you need to wage bloody war against these despicable xenos."

There were obvious dangers involved in this plan, of course. If enough of the PDF or the Arbites were infected, the noble houses did not have enough soldiers in their private armies to take them both on. If enough Mechanicus members were infected, well, that would be almost as bad as losing the PDF and the Arbites.

The standard template for dealing with Tyranids was, according to the _Intro to the Hive Mind_ by some Ordo Xenos inquisitor he'd never heard of, big guns. Agnus wanted to hunt down the fracker who wrote such shit and put a bullet through his head, and then tell him that he has a bullet in his head.

"That is a bold plan, inquisitor. Whether we can achieve such objectives within the day, though-"

"I will brief your subordinates on the matter," Agnus smiled in what he hoped was a predatory grin. "The rosette tends to inspire humans to greatness. Ah, and please remember, to not do anything rash. We will only order evacuation when it is clear that the planet is lost, and I will be the judge of that. My Ordo has been informed of it."

Agnus saw the plans Darius was harboring vanish into thin air at that news. Now, he had to make sure Agnus lived or the Inquisition would blame his death on him. Even an 'accidental death' did not bode well.

Most humans were quite rational beings. When given the choice of certain death and possible death, they will always pick possible death.

"Y-your Ordo has b-been-"

"I thought they would like to know what happened if they lost contact with Cinna. My superiors like to keep informed by their subordinates, and they are not known for patience or mercy."

"I see… Berthold!" Darius called for his secretary, a sallow skinned man who had clearly not seen the sun in months. "Assemble all the heads of the noble houses for an emergency meeting. Inform the other commercial or off-planetary interests with significant firepower to prepare for war. Get me Sandor."

"This Sandor, he is Yool Sandor?" Agnus was surprised that such a famous man would be here. Veteran of four crusades and Warmaster for one, Yool Sandor was a legend in Segmentum Solar for his decisive action against two green-skin empires and three heretic-held pockets near the Solar-Pacificus border.

"He is, inquisitor. He has retired, and has been living here since three years ago. A well-deserved reward for a hero, as I'm sure you could imagine."

"Indeed. Though he hasn't taken on Tyranids before, I'm certain the rudiments of commanding armies would be similar enough that he'll do better than your incompetent underlings would."

"Exactly so," the governor beamed. "He is only a hundred and fifty years old. Still quite spry, I hear. I'm sure he'll banish this alien menace as surely as the Emperor rests on the throne."

"Don't be too optimistic," Agnus warned. "If they've infiltrated the PDF and the Arbites, our Hero of the Imperium will have no army. If they've infiltrated the Mechanicus, our Hero of the Imperium will have no vehicles."

The governor's face fell again. If either of those things happened, Agnus fully intended to put a bullet in the governor and his cronies' heads for criminal incompetence.

* * *

><p>"What is this about martial law being declared?" Agnus's father asked, a storm brewing on his face. Not a decade ago, Agnus might have trembled in fear for that expression, but a decade of facing the Archenemy of mankind had the habit of forcing inquisitors to overcome their daddy issues. "Is it something to do with the attack on you yesterday?"<p>

"That is confidential information, released on a need-to-know basis only." That was what any responsible inquisitor would do, of course. Agnus did, however, inform Sephilia of the situation and forced her to return to the _Daedalus_.

While the SDF had a formidable presence at Cinna, and for the two agri-worlds in the system, any number of their vessels could have been compromised. The entirety of the SDF was forced to the ground with the pretext of needing a parade for a VIP. The reality was that the SDF was being checked over alongside the PDF for xenos taint.

"Agnus-"

"No. Your knowing will cause an unnecessary panic among the planet's populace. As an inquisitor, I cannot allow that to happen at such a delicate juncture."

"So it's a serious threat, is it?" the old man smirked. Agnus cursed himself for his carelessness.

"It doesn't matter," Agnus snarled. "No one can get to the spacefaring ships without the permission of the governor and myself. Nonessential personnel are to be grounded indefinitely."

"So you're worried about the planet's orbital defences. This most be a lot more serious than the governor is letting on," Clarisse considered. "Of all the time to have planetary emergencies, this week?"

"I'm afraid you'll have to postpone your wedding, sister," Agnus confirmed that much. "In fact, I would prefer it if all of you got to the safe room and stayed there."

"If this is a planetary matter, the safe room isn't going to cut it. I want to get off planet," Agnus's father demanded. "You're an inquisitor, aren't you? Make it happen!"

"Lucian!" Agnus's mother snapped. "Agnus is now an inquisitor. We have to consider his position as well."

"He became an inquisitor to benefit this House. If he cannot do that-"

"I've taken on the worst nightmares that our Archenemy could offer, father," Agnus spat. "I am not the little boy you used to whip anymore. Stand down."

"And don't you think you owe your survival to me, boy? Blanks are usually dragged off by the Officio Assassinorum! I saved you from that fate!"

"For which I am grateful, but can you say that you only had my best interests in your heart?"

"Don't talk to your father like that-"

"As you pointed out, mother, I am an inquisitor. As long as I'm the only inquisitor on Cinna, I am the Emperor's most direct representative! This is not the time to guilt me into doing anything for you!"

"Why, I never-"

"Oh mother, do you truly believe I've forgotten all about you two? We do this sort of thing in the Inquisition, too. Good inquisitor and crazy inquisitor, we call it. None of you are getting off the damned planet and that is final!" Agnus all but screamed.

"What about Sephilia?" Lucian sneered. "Got her tucked away nice and quick, didn't you? You'd choose her over your-"

"For your information, Sephilia is the captain of the _Daedalus_, the only ship in the Emperor-forsaken system that I can be sure of as loyal to the Throne!" Agnus noticed his mistake too late.

"… The _Daedalus_ is the only ship within the system that you're sure is loyal to the Throne?" Triela gasped, speaking out loud the conclusion everyone at the table had come to.

"That information does not leave this room, on the pain of death and worse than death," Agnus growled. He hated having to threaten his siblings as well but even they could not be allowed to spread the news. "I see that it was a mistake to come here at all."

"And yet, you came," Agnus's mother still tried to placate him, only serving to infuriate him further.

"Don't touch me. I am an agent of the Inquisition, and while I'm speaking as one you will maintain the appropriate attitude of an Imperial citizen."

"You want to grovel and scrape before you?" Lucian snorted.

"No, but you will obey. For the Emperor's sake, you have to trust me on this matter. I am the most experienced human in this system, and likely this sub-sector, to deal with the threat we are facing."

"So you would truly abandon your family for your duty," Lucian spat in disgust.

"This has nothing to do with abandoning my family. I have given you ample warning, enough to prepare you more than the vast majority of Cinna's populace," Agnus snapped, and though he knew his father was being so contrary for his family's sake, he could not allow that argument to work on him. "Manfred, I need you to tell me what our family has."

"Agnus, I know you're not allowed to let anyone leave, but-"

"No. You will not finish that sentence. You will answer my question."

"… That hurts, Agnus."

"That it hurts you hurts me, but I repeat again that I am an inquisitor, the ultimate representation of Imperial authority. Please, do not push me."

"We have around seventy three assorted tanks. No super-heavies, of course, and only three Leman Russes," Triela answered instead of Manfred.

"How on Earth do you have Leman Russes?!"

"You were in the business before, Agnus, you know how. Stop interrupting me," Triela snapped. Agnus understood that Triela wanted to help him get this over with as quickly as possible, and nodded in response. "Six Valkyries and a dozen other assorted gunships. We also have nearly four hundred assorted security personnel, sixty or so of whom are fully augmented."

"Is that representative of the other noble Houses? In a firefight against the PDF, do you think the noble Houses will win?"

"The PDF is suspect, too?!"

"Yes, mother. In fact, one of the reasons I came here were to make sure that you could be trusted," Agnus revealed his weapons. "Had you been infected by the threat I was talking about, you could not have failed to attack me ten minutes ago."

"Infect-what kind of an enemy is this?" Manfred shouted in frustration.

"Classified until further notice," Agnus hissed. "Now, I need to know whether-"

"No. The PDF should be able to win with numbers alone."

"Then an order will be given to the Houses tomorrow. Assemble them all to check for something in their physiology. Make up an appropriate excuse," Agnus told his brother. "Meanwhile, send a feeler out to our clients. Check them over and then conscript them."

"They won't like it," Manfred muttered.

"We have little choice. The survival of this planet is at stake, and I for one intend to do everything I can to ensure we can tell friend from foe when the real fighting starts. That is why I need all of you to stay. Each of you have contacts and skills that will be most useful in determining friend from foe."

"If this xenos threat is as serious as you think it is, why not evacuate your family, at least? It'll make you rest easier, and allow you to concentrate on your duties," Lucian initiated his final gambit.

"Would you give up already? Try to look at it this way. Our family has a great deal of our assets tied up on this planet. You're safeguarding that by staying here and doing whatever you can to help coordinate the defenses."

Agnus's mother was about to say something when the alarms blared throughout the estate.

There were five levels of alarms, each with a different sound and tempo. This particular alarm blared slow and low.

"Code one, xeno, orbital, or daemonic threat," Manfred hissed.

"Where is it coming from?" Lucian snapped, activating his vox bead. "All forces, report!"

Agnus ran out to the balcony and looked to the skies. There were none of the telltale flashes of an orbital bombardment or the hints of an impending daemonic threat.

There were, however, scores of Genestealers carving into the House troops. Normally, an external threat would have been dealt with competently by the augmented and well-paid ex-guardsmen, but the situation was a little different from what they were trained to deal with.

The Genestealers wore the uniforms of the House troops, and precious few guardsmen survived Tyranid onslaughts to be able to recognize the vanguard of the swarm.

Agnus deactivated the limiter in his head, hoping to throw back the Genestealer infiltrators who must have been aiming for him. Finding none, he turned it on so he could use it at the right moment.

"Wyrie, emergency," Agnus voxed, even as the first gunship launched from its underground hangar, only to be shot down by a krak missile to the primary thrusters. "I need an evac. Follow my tracker."

Humans developed first as scavengers, when they did not even have stone axes to defend themselves with. They found the strength to survive their immediate surroundings, Terra, in numbers. Humans scream so as to warn others and summon help.

The screams reached the interior of the mansion.

"Everyone, move to the garage, double time," Agnus snapped at his family, and it was quite clear that he spoke in his capacity as an inquisitor. Not even his father dared disobey the inquisitor.

Agnus cursed at the absence of his power armor, and even more for the absence of his Animus Speculum helmet. The situation was not supposed to escalate this quickly. He had a bolt pistol and the Arbites standard power maul, at least, but his bodyglove wouldn't last a second against a Genestealer. The one realistic hope he had was the sphere of blankness he produced.

"Manfred, cover our rear. Triela, with me. Shoot first, and never ask questions."

Manfred was, thankfully, armed with twin bolt pistols. Triela had two small-caliber stubbers. His father had a bolt pistol. No one else was armed.

Of all the differences service for the Inquisition made for Agnus, he felt the loss of his perspective as a civilian most keenly. Being around agents of the Inquisition, Adeptus Astartes, Imperial Guard, Adepta Sororitas, Adeptus Arbites, and the Mechanicus for most of his last two decades, that people would be so stupid to go without weapons seemed inconceivable to him. It was as if they didn't know the universe was full of Traitor Astartes, daemons, heretics, rebels, greenskins, Dark Mechanicus, Eldar of all flavors, Tau, Necrons, and Tyranids.

Agnus counted the Archenemy as the primary threat to mankind. None of the other threats promised as terrible a consequence as falling prey to the forces of the Warp, and Chaos was an internal threat as well as an external threat.

Though Necrons were easily the most dangerous, there were so far too few of them to make a difference. Tyranids were the second most serious threats to the Imperium. It was theorized that they were drawn to this galaxy from another, drawn by the same beacon that kept the Imperium functioning. They came in untold numbers, were as relentless as the Necrons, and promised some of the most grisly deaths humanity could imagine.

The first group of Genestealers came into view and four sidearms barked to greet them. One fell, but two others charged straight for Agnus, dispelling all notion of their being allies.

Agnus deactivated his implants, cutting off the Genestealer advance by disrupting whatever it was that made them move as a single swarm. His family was used to it, enough so that they didn't overtly move away from him at least.

The inquisitor took advantage of the lull in the xeno assault and crushed a Genestealer's skull with his maul. Triela put dozens of stubber rounds in the other Genestealer's skull, and reloaded.

"What are these things?"

"Genestealers. Vanguard creatures of the terror we know as the Tyranid."

"The Tyranid?" Lucian asked. Agnus had forgotten that most people didn't know a thing about the Tyranid, especially in a world as far from the Eastern Fringe as Cinna was.

"Insect swarm-like xenos," Agnus explained, motioning at everyone to get in the elevator. The stairs were safer but far too slow, which would be a danger in itself. "Took a chunk out of the Eastern Fringe about a decade ago. They're from another galaxy, and they are without number. They absorb a planet's biomass, and move on. Suffice to say that they are the most serious threats to the Imperium after the Archenemy. Chaos, I mean."

"But they looked like humans!" Lauren protested. Agnus wanted to give her a gun, but she'd be more danger to herself than to Genestealers.

"These particular creatures are infiltrators. They've been on this planet for a long time. They might even summon a Hive Fleet if we're really unlucky."

"I don't know what that is, but it sounds really bad," said Manfred.

"Cinna has minimal defenses, being this deep in Segmentum Solar. We'd never survive a Hive Fleet."

"All the more reason to get off this planet," Lucian insisted.

"Their primary Hive Fleet was broken a decade ago by the Ultramarines. Their splinter fleets are being hunted down. It's unlikely one will make it as far as Cinna, and a great majority of the psykers on the planet would be writhing and dying if it was nearby." The elevator finally arrived on the ground floor.

"We need to move!" Uran shouted across the garage.

"Is that… a dwarf?"

"They're called Squats. Never call them dwarves, if you want to live," Agnus cautioned Clarisse. A squad of House troops formed up around them, the lack of weapons-fire telling him all he needed to know about their loyalty.

"What happened to our gunships? How're we holding up?" Agnus's father asked.

"One Valkyrie in the air. The heretics, or whatever they are, ran out of anti-armor weapons. They cut up ceramite just fine, though."

"I've seen Genestealer Purestrains go through Astartes in Terminator armor. Speed will be our best chance of getting out of here alive."

An ominous sound distracted Agnus. It was the sound of metal caving in to a force greater than it was designed for. It was the all too familiar sound of an undesirable forcing its way into his presence.

"Genestealers!" Uran roared as he took revenge for his ancestors, the heavy stubber on the left arm of his exoskeleton raking a jagged line in the host of Genestealers trying to tear their way through the doors. In his right hand he held a power axe, the physical attributes of a Squat being most suitable for axes and hammers rather than swords.

Agnus felt something else, too. It was that certain creeping suspicion that your enemies were thinking ahead of you. Sometimes it was wrong, but it never hurt to have that feeling.

Dreading what he would find, Agnus looked to the ceiling of the vast garage. As he had suspected, Genestealers were pouring out of the vents.

"Start the engines!" Agnus shouted as he and his family, surrounded by House troops, sprinted towards the four Chimeras and two Salamanders that were their salvation.

Some of the Genestealers had lasguns, and they had the mental and manual dexterity to use them.

"Protect the Inquisitor!" Dervis screamed at his Stormtroopers. Once again, Agnus was amazed by the courage of his fellow humans when four former Kriegan grenadiers charged out of the relative safety of the Chimeras they were in and placed themselves firmly in the line of fire of the Genestealers, hellguns blazing full-auto.

"Two, three, and four. Drive out to establish a safe zone outside the garage," Agnus voxed. He hoped to have the four or five heavy weapons the three vehicles had between them clear the way for the rest of the convoy.

The first of the screaming started as two Genestealers started carving their way through the House troops. Technically, there was screaming beforehand on Agnus's part and Lauren's part, but this was the first time humans around them were screaming in pain. The four Kriegan grenadiers who had rushed out to secure Agnus's flight were already dead, two having blazed away with their hellguns to the end, one having been skewered by a Genestealer from above, and the last having taken what seemed to have been the entire supply of grenades of his group and setting them to detonate around himself as he died.

If all Imperial citizens had a quarter of the courage the average Kriegan grenadier had, Agnus believed that humanity could destroy all the Necron in the galaxy within a year and have time left to wipe out the greenskins to their very spores. Two years, and the Eye would be closed.

But that was a fantasy world and in reality, most Imperial citizens had just about as much courage as Agnus did.

"Step on it!" Agnus ordered as he closed the Salamander's ramps. Several House troops were trapped outside, but they were going to die anyways.

The convoy rushed out into the open. The three Chimeras Agnus sent ahead were scrap metal, but they had cleared away enough of the Genestealers that the rest of the group would make it to the capital.

As much as he hated to admit it, Agnus thought it might be time to consider abandoning the world of his birth.

* * *

><p>It was galling to think that Cinna, a paradise world blessed by the Emperor, so close to the cradle of humanity, would fall to xenos.<p>

Not just any xenos, but just some vanguard xenos creatures, not even the main course. Sephilia gritted her teeth as yet another SDF gunboat was registered as hostile by the ship's IFF tags.

Nearly a third of the SDF had been revealed to be traitors, and another half with Genestealer infiltrators onboard. The three cruiser class SDF ships were already flaming wrecks destroyed by the planet's orbital defense lasers; they were now unsalvageable hunks of metal that would create a debris field around Cinna until the Mechanicus sent ships capable of cleaning up.

Most of the escort class SDF ships were likewise destroyed. Sephilia had listened to a captain begging for reinforcements as his bridge was overwhelmed by the xenos. She also watched the purification by fire of another vessel, whose captain and enginseers had overwhelmed the engines rather than see the ship service xenos.

She watched as several SDF ships bombarded the capital city from orbit, their commands captured by xenos heedless of their own survival. Auspexes reported severe casualties in sections of the city in which many of her childhood friends and distant family lived.

"Starboard broadside, fire all guns!" the executive officer of the _Daedalus_ shouted. A small sun appeared where a frigate of Cinna's SDF was a moment ago, the explosions close enough to affect the _Daedalus_'s void shields.

It was better than getting rammed.

"Starhawks returning to fighter bays," an ensign reported. "No ammunition."

Cinna was a paradise world, and a jewel in the Imperium of man. It might not have the glory of the fortress worlds, the industry of the forge worlds, the hardy people of the death worlds, and the piety of the cardinal worlds, but by the grace of the Emperor, it was pristine. The oceans were clear, light blue. The plains were healthy green. The mountains were full of trees that would shed their leaves come autumn. The cities were vibrant, untouched by the decay and steady diminishment that affected most Imperial cities.

It would be a dead world if the Genestealers win and hold out long enough to summon a hive fleet. Sephilia did not have the weaponry to deny the world to the Great Devourer. She could win the war in the void, and still see her homeworld fall to insectoid xenos.

"Fury 3 is out. Critical damage to engines. Shutting down all non—essential systems," another ensign shouted. "Only two allied frigates remain!"

There was a brief cheer as the orbital defense lasers cut through two more SDF vessels gone rogue, a cheer that vanished when the xenos released their second wave of orbital bombardment.

"Twenty five condominium complexes, two manufactories, a beach resort, and a shopping mall destroyed. Estimated casualties twelve to fifteen thousand, including a hundred and thirty three servants of the Omnissiah. Nineteen to twenty three billion Imperial credits' worth of property damage. Recovery likely to take two decades even with heavy Mechanicus support," a techpriest reported.

"Crossfire with allied frigate! Synchronized portside broadside in five, four, three, two, one. Fire!" Marie barked, and the gunneries roared in answer.

"Multiple enemy targets destroyed!" an ensign crowed, and the cheers from the rest of the ship could be heard even in the bridge.

"Ensign Falkner, battle discipline," the executive officer berated, and the ship went back to the business of war.

A jolt of pain told Sephilia that the ship was struck. "What was that?" she sighed. Even without the battle, it had been a long day full of worries.

"Shields holding!"

"Some of the orbital defense lasers on Exeter are under xenos control!" ensign Falkner reported. Sephilia steered the ship to present its starboard broadside against Cinna's moon.

"Fire all starboard guns."

"Fire for effect!"

The orbital defense lasers that had fired on the ship were engulfed in fire. The macro cannons of the _Daedalus_ pounded away at the plascrete that encased the installation, and reached the Genestealers within.

Sephilia thought a small part of her died as she scorched the ground of the pristine moon black. Cinna's moon was as beautiful as her parent planet was, a comforting blue in the darkness of the planet's night.

"Forward lance batteries locked on xenos controlled frigate!"

"Fire!"

"Shields recovering at 43.7119%," a techpriest said.

"Milady… a groundside orbital defense facility is moving to get a target lock on us!"

"What? On Cinna?" asked Marie.

"No time to confirm. We'll die if we stay around. Achieve orbit on the opposite side of the defense laser facilities."

"We're abandoning the fight?"

"No. The orbital lasers under imperial control should be able to take out the rest of the enemy's vessels. We'll leave our interceptors behind to finish the job more quickly."

"What will the rest of us be doing?"

"Prepare the Aquila transports and our combat specialists. If we're useless in space, we'll be useful on the ground."

* * *

><p>The Grand Plaza in front of the palace where the PDF troopers were being tested was in chaos.<p>

It was estimated that half of the PDF were infected, and a significant portion of the population besides. Even more concerning was that the heretic dissidents that all planets were bound to have seemed to have been infected as well. It seemed like everyone on the planet who had reason to oppose the Imperium were out for blood.

Genestealers fought alongside heretics, and they were without number.

As Agnus had suspected, either the Genestealers had already infected the heretics or the brood mind in control of the Genestealers were holding them back. Either way, the implication was ominous. The Tyranids were capable of some limited form of reasoning and intellect when it came to expediting their goals. Other subversive elements of the Imperium could be used in that manner.

"Warriors of the Imperium," Agnus began, scrounging through his memories of holodramas that had a suitably heroic and occasionally humorous air to them. "Tomorrow will be our day of days, for we will have rejoined the Emperor in glory at the Golden Throne. Tonight is our night of nights, for it is right now, in the next few hours, that we will earn the glory to carry us to the Throne. These Genestealers, may our belts hold true, think we are defeated. They think us cornered. They laugh in their triumph."

Agnus's voice was drowned out as the Land Raider was finally brought into the equation. The Genestealer advance was stopped for a moment, their looted imperial vehicles destroyed by the twin-linked lascannons and their hordes cut down by the heavy bolters and flamers.

"Regroup and reform the line!" Dervis snapped at the PDF, who were given respite for the first time in hours. "Mortar teams, pick up the firing rate! Stand your ground you dogs! Stand!"

Agnus saw a retired Commissar from the local Schola Progenium join the lines. The man was old, and Agnus knew how difficult it was for Commissars and Inquisitors to grow old. The man took up a vox bead from a nearby trooper, and started his sermon. "This is Commissar Wilhelm Schadt, formerly of the Eritrean 13th. It has already been calculated that you cannot win this war. The Emperor's most glorious triumph will not be achieved in your lifetimes. But for every second you stand against the enemy's guns, you deplete his resources. You make him weaker. Your lives may be worthless, but you can sell them dearly!"

With that, the Commissar drew his chainsword, and showed the enemies of the Imperium why they should fear the Commissariat.

The reinforcements weren't nearly enough to turn the tides, but they bought time, and they heartened all imperial souls in the vicinity.

A Hellhound exploded next to him and Agnus had to duck for a moment. "Show them that they are in the wrong. Prove to them that they have nothing to celebrate, for it is they who are trapped on a planet with foes who will not leave! Fix your belts tight! Defenders of Cinna, fight for your families and the Emperor! Purge the alien!"

Cinna was a paradise world, unspoiled by the touch of war. Its citizens should not have been ready for it. They should have been fleeing, screaming at the top of their lungs.

But there was just something, something about the sheer inevitability of defeat that lifts the burden on a man's shoulders. Agnus actually saw the soldiers laugh at his lame pun. Even the mildly dimwitted started to get the joke and chuckled at the ridiculousness. In the place of utter terror were smiles of resignation and even a light spring to their steps.

This was the final battle, and all the imperials knew it. Every man and woman was now fighting for the salvation of his or her soul, the bonds of camaraderie, and for the glory of the Emperor of Mankind. There was nowhere to retreat to. They simply gave up on running.

The collective goal of humanity, in the parade grounds at least, shifted. The goal was now to drag as many of the xenos scum to hell as possible. Even Agnus was swept by the sudden burst of faith and fervor in the name of the Emperor. He continued ranting into the vox while occasionally shooting an enemy who made it near the Salamander with a sidearm.

"Inquisitor!" a PDF trooper approached Agnus, and he could tell by the lack of a lasbolt in the back of his head that the trooper was loyal. "Our voxcaster reached the planetary air force! Three Marauder bombers and sixteen locally produced fighter-bombers are being diverted this way!"

Agnus was about to respond when a lasbolt entered the trooper's skull.

"Emperor damn!" Agnus put his head back in the Salamander. "Release the Ogryns!"

The final card Agnus had up his sleeve was let loose on the Genestealer close-combat forms. If the xenos were surprised by the Land Raider, they were even more dismayed by the cargo.

"Go T'argg! Tell your boys that they'll get a grox burger for every kill!" Agnus cheered, grinning despite the mortal peril he was in. As always, food was the best encouragement for Ogryns. "Myung," Agnus voxed the Commissar in charge of the Ogryns on a separate channel, "make sure they don't stray too far. I need them alive."

For the first time in thirty minutes, the Genestealers were driven out of the palace gates.

Agnus slipped out of the Salamander to find a voxcaster.

Another commotion distracted him

"They made another path! Get some men there! To me!"

Agnus cursed again his ill fortune in not bringing all of his gear. As it was, his bodyglove offered little protection against Genestealers.

The inquisitor turned off his inhibitors fully, and lunged at the new gap created by the Genestealers. At his approach, the Genestealers lost their connections to their patriarch, and became sluggish enough that the humans could regroup.

While most of his vehicles and retainers were stemming the horde at the main gate, Agnus's two remaining Kriegans and techpriest followed him.

Agnus regretted not having learnt of the Kriegans' names. Now that he thought of it, he wasn't entirely sure they had names. He knew their serial numbers, but not their names. That was all they had told him.

Meanwhile, Wyrie and his three remaining combat servitors lay into the Genestealer lines. The two long-ranged servitors carried between them an autocannon, a heavy stubber, a heavy flamer, and a heavy bolter. The torrent of firepower they produced blocked off a section of the entry the Genestealers created for themselves and allowed the remaining imperials to block the other half.

A loud noise, even louder than the noise produced by the desperate battle in the plaza, and a tremor to rival an earthquake. That was how Agnus knew the imperial air force was here.

Even without Agnus to oversee them, someone had voxed the correct coordinates and several green smoke grenades had been popped to tell the pilots where not to drop their bombs. A great cheer rose from the remaining imperials as they pushed the Genestealers away from the green smoke.

"Oh frack," Agnus swore as he watched a certain bomb's trajectory.. It was almost certainly dropped by accident, because it tumbled this way and that as it fell. It was a wonder it didn't explode when it hit the closing bombing bay doors on the way out.

"Clear the area! Take cover!"

The servitors immediately made a shield wall around Wyrie, the techpriest having calculated the trajectory of the bomb's fall.

Agnus realized that if Wyrie was correct, and he probably was, he was about to die.

"Shit, shit, shit, Emperor-damned shit. The dark gods be damned shit!" Agnus swore as he still ran at top speed.

Something ran into him from behind, and Agnus knew it would take less than a second for a Genestealer to decapitate him.

The decapitating stroke never came, and the bomb exploded. The sound was deafening, but Agnus felt less of the shock that should have turned his innards into jelly, no doubt thanks to the body on his back.

Agnus's hearing cleared to hear a victory cheer. Despite the massive imperial casualties, the Genestealers were clearly running, and enough humans survived to celebrate their survival.

Agnus remembered the man or woman on his back. There were actually two men on his back, though he doubted they'd survive the next two minutes. They were wearing very familiar uniforms.

They were the last two of the Kriegan grenadiers Agnus had kidnapped and pressed into service.

"Frack, frack, clusterfracking fething gak!" Agnus turned on in his inhibitor. He checked their pulses, and they were so feint that it was a wonder they were breathing.

"Wyrie, can you do-"

"My expertise is not the human body," the cogboy replied.

Agnus had a healthy attachment to his life, but a wave of guilt washed over him. He was going to track down the person who did the maintenance on the bomber that had dropped the bomb by mistake, and put a bullet through him and all three generations of his family. The two Kriegans deserved a far better death than the one that faced them.

"You've completed your objective," Agnus began, slowly recalling the message all Kriegans heard before they were deemed fit to send off-planet. "It is your duty and destiny; die bravely, die hard, and know that even the meager sacrifice you make will be noted and weighed against your ancestors' heresies. Your actions have hastened that hour-that glorious, promised hour-when the sins of Krieg will at last be forgiven, and its sons redeemed in the Emperor's all-seeing eyes. And thus, your fleeting existences will have been justified. In the name of His Majesty's Holy Inquisition, I thank you for your service and salute your sacrifice. Rest in peace."

Agnus had no way to know if they had heard what he said, but that was irrelevant. He had already failed to give them the deaths he had promised them. There were no greater daemons around to justify and give greater meaning to their deaths. This trip to Cinna was supposed to be a vacation of sorts.

The least he could do now was to honor their sacrifice by winning.

* * *

><p>The Return to Cinna arc has at least two and possibly three chapters left.<p> 


End file.
